Not much has gone on this week because low and behold we have had absolutely nothing to do!! Wahoo!! I know that sounds silly but after almost 4 weeks of either vacationing or getting ready for parties or different celebrations, this week was finally empty. Much to my children's dismay they had no more family around to keep them occupied 24/7, which only led to one thing...fighting. Which leads me to the title of my post..."Checks and Balances"...or should I say as we've titled it in our house "Checks and Stars." After two days of doing nothing but tattling on eachother and/or yelling and screaming I had had enough. With no place to run and escape to I came up with this reward system in hopes of keeping Jacks and Mickey from tearing down the house (and my sanity). We started on Tuesday afternoon and I sat them down and said that for every good deed they did for the day, or every time they listened, or did a chore without me asking, they would get a star by their name in my book. However, for every not so good thing they did (i.e. not listening, fighting, yelling) they would get a check mark. At the end of the week we would tally up everything and if the Stars outweighed the Checks then I would reward them on Saturday with mini-cones from McDonalds. Jacks caught on right away and would repeatedly tell me what he had done to get a star. Mikaela on the other hand...well, let's just say that by Tuesday night (remember we started Tuesday afternoon) she had 14 checks and 8 stars!! But by Wednesday she got better and I must admit this system has somewhat worked. Instead of getting frustrated I just tell them "Check" or "Star" and it makes them thin a bit about what they're doing. Of course it's not perfect, yesterday Mikaela adamantly said she wanted the "Check" as she continued to pull poor Loki's tail until I hauled her away, but it is bringing some peace and sanity to me and my home. So for the time being it is working, who knows if it will continue to influence them for good but keep your fingers crossed for me. One thing is for sure, this week they both have made complete 360's and have been playing wonderfully together for more than a couple minutes;)
Friday, July 11, 2008
Checks and Balances
Not much has gone on this week because low and behold we have had absolutely nothing to do!! Wahoo!! I know that sounds silly but after almost 4 weeks of either vacationing or getting ready for parties or different celebrations, this week was finally empty. Much to my children's dismay they had no more family around to keep them occupied 24/7, which only led to one thing...fighting. Which leads me to the title of my post..."Checks and Balances"...or should I say as we've titled it in our house "Checks and Stars." After two days of doing nothing but tattling on eachother and/or yelling and screaming I had had enough. With no place to run and escape to I came up with this reward system in hopes of keeping Jacks and Mickey from tearing down the house (and my sanity). We started on Tuesday afternoon and I sat them down and said that for every good deed they did for the day, or every time they listened, or did a chore without me asking, they would get a star by their name in my book. However, for every not so good thing they did (i.e. not listening, fighting, yelling) they would get a check mark. At the end of the week we would tally up everything and if the Stars outweighed the Checks then I would reward them on Saturday with mini-cones from McDonalds. Jacks caught on right away and would repeatedly tell me what he had done to get a star. Mikaela on the other hand...well, let's just say that by Tuesday night (remember we started Tuesday afternoon) she had 14 checks and 8 stars!! But by Wednesday she got better and I must admit this system has somewhat worked. Instead of getting frustrated I just tell them "Check" or "Star" and it makes them thin a bit about what they're doing. Of course it's not perfect, yesterday Mikaela adamantly said she wanted the "Check" as she continued to pull poor Loki's tail until I hauled her away, but it is bringing some peace and sanity to me and my home. So for the time being it is working, who knows if it will continue to influence them for good but keep your fingers crossed for me. One thing is for sure, this week they both have made complete 360's and have been playing wonderfully together for more than a couple minutes;)
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5 comments:
we will have a chart on our fridge tomorrow i don't know what it is but my boys have been at eachothers throats for the past two weeks. thanks for the tip. ben got jackson bday present yesterday and is sooo excited to give it to him! can't wait to hold your precious little one.
Oh, Mikaela. What a funny girl! That is such a great idea - I may figure out how to use it in my classroom!
hahaha that is too funny! But what a great idea - I think we will have a check and star system started here too.
BTW your blog makeover is so cute!
that is a great idea!
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