Nap time had turned into a battle of wills about six weeks ago, and the hours of 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. turned into an awful time in our home. Giving up naps was not an alternative, we tried, however the irrational, demanding behavior became too much to bare. To motivate our little diva into taking her much needed nap, a sticker chart was created. Every day she took a nap, she got a sticker. Once she accumulated 7 stickers, she got a small prize. It was amazing how motivating this was. Anytime she considered fighting a nap, I would say, "This is an opportunity to earn a sticker." Like magic, she'd go lay down. Now, I cannot say that a nap occurred every day, but the resistance to napping was no longer an issue. When a nap is not taken, no sticker is given. Since then, we have seen a clear pattern relating sleep and behavior. After two days of no actual sleep, she enters into one of her moods. At the beginning of this week she filled an entire four week chart with stickers, so we celebrated with a bigger reward: roller skates.
She has been asking us for skates since winter. Finally with nice weather, and good behavior it seemed to be the right time. She is doing pretty well with them, too. Better than I expected.
Just ignore the screaming child in the background, he was trying to bully me out of my phone. His narcissistic obsession with watching videos of himself, cause this reaction every time he sees the phone.
While shopping for the skates, we saw that there was a salon that cut kids hair for a good price, so Chase got his second, and much needed hair cut.
He looks so much like his dad I wonder if I was anything more than an incubator.
Oh and please excuse the dirty shirt, we had been playing outside all day.
And for those of you paying attention to the beginning of this post may be wondering how exactly is it that I, too, am motivated by sticker charts. Well, I made one for myself to remind me to exercise every day, and placed it on the pantry door. The motivation from seeing no sticker in the box for the day has done wonders for my exercise goals.
