When Abiola Ajaya-obe gave up a career in management to look after her two children, she was in for a shock. She had had no problems managing staff at work, but looking after two tiny tearaways at home was a completely different matter!

Threats, tears and arguments - a scenario a lot of parents and children will recognise - dominated family life and Abiola new that there had to be a better way. And that's when she realised that she could use some of her managerial skills to improve her children's behaviour.

She devised a simple task and reward system that she explained to her two daughters, the basis of which was a wall chart outlibning what they were expected to do and the rewards that they wouldf get for doing so.

Family life was transformed overnight and very soon friends who also had children were asking for copies of Abiola's wall chart.

And so SmartChartz was born. Today, there are four themed Smartchartz available - Space, Dinosaurs, Pop Chicks and Toys - and they are available by mail order and in a number of retail outlets across the UK.

Children's reward charts are not new - anyone who watches Supernanny on TV will know that they are regularly used by Jo Frost in taming unruly children. But instead of making one for her own children, Abiola has taken her version of the reward chart that one magical step further and developed it into a successful business.

Brainstorming

So what about you.

Take a look at the Smartchartz website. Can you think of new ideas or new markets for Abiola?

Can you think of any other uses for wallcharts?

What other ideas can you think of that might help parents improve their children's behaviour?