Charts

I was grateful for school to start up again to get a little bit of routine back.

To get back in the swing of things we made a listening chart for Brad. When he earns five smiley faces he gets to go to Maverick on the golf cart to pick out a treat. Earlier in the summer we did a chart that didn't seem to work as well. It took him a long time to earn his prize which made him uninterested in the chart. This seems to work better since he can earn his prize in 5 days. He seems to do better with instant gratification rather than long term. If he gets three frowny faces in one day he doesn't earn a smile. This seems to work better for him. He doesn't get frustrated when he makes a mistake.




I think sometimes I have grand expectations that he is going to be perfect all the time. (I know I know Ha Ha Ha....) Poor Brad. He is our guinea pig. He has to put up with us adjusting our parenting all the time.



I have been trying to get brave with Claire to get her out of pull-ups at night. We made a chart for her too. When she earned all of her stickers she got a Mrs. Potato Head. This was the ticket for her. She went straight through with only one minor accident. It was so cute to hear her every morning. The first thing she wanted to do was put a sticker on her chart and announce that she was dry. No more pull-ups as of tonight. Keep your fingers crossed.



My freind Seantea had this chart idea on her blog that I stole.

Every day the kids get to pick an uninterrupted one on one activity to do with mom for 20 minutes. I thought this was going to be so simple. It is actually really hard for me. I am so task oriented that it is hard for me to do. I have to physically make myself stop for 20 minutes. Ususlly I make a quick phone call, fold a basket of laundry, or make a shopping list, etc while I am "spending time" with my kids. I have noticed a huge difference with my kids. They are not nearly as needy when I need to get stuff done. It is amazing what 20 minutes of attention will do.