I see many Martial Arts instructors using electrical tape to provide inexpensive rewards for children, indicate progress, help instructors keep track, etc. Most of them use regular black electrical tape. Some do actually buy a few different colors, and a pretty good variety are available at most hardware stores. What I don’t get is why when you can get a stripe that’s easier to use, looks better, and best of all is actually less expensive than cutting up rolls of tape by hand! Trust me, I know. I used to sit up late cutting up rolls of electrical tape and sticking the pieces on a plastic binder so I could use them the next day. I also tried keeping rolls of tape and scissors around, but it was a pain to deal with one at a time like that and very inefficient, not to mention a little dangerous having scissors or a knife around a bunch kids.

The point I wanted to make is that achievement stripes make it easy to give very inexpensive rewards to kids as often as you like. I try not to over-use them, because I happen to believe that diminishes their value as a motivator, but that’s another conversation. If you’re really interested in understanding more about reward theory and motivation read my page on rewards for starters, but keep watching here and even if no-one else chimes in I still have plenty to say as time allows.