I've found my motivator for the summer. We call it Exceptional Behavior. As in, "if you exhibit exceptional behavior this week, we'll do X,Y, or Z." Last week, exceptional behavior bought them a ticket to see Toy Story 3 (our review, 4 stars but don't bother paying extra for 3D). Jay was working alot and out of town for the weekend and I was desperate for some basic cooperation. And, to my faint surprise, it worked. All I had to do was say, "well, OK...." and whatever monkey business was going on magically stopped.
Some days are better than others. One day this week I grounded Henry from playing with friends because he needed to work on getting along better with his siblings. And, again, surprisingly it seemed to work. The kids all spent the afternoon together and got along for the most part.
Exceptional behavior over the next few days will get them a copy of a new Wii game, Lego Harry Potter, that is being released on Tuesday. The kids are actually pretty good about not asking me to buy them game after game after game. We saw the game advertised and the boys began devising ways to earn extra money before the release date so that they could get it. So I told them that Exceptional Behavior, including doing extra jobs around the house without complaining, would earn them a new game. So far, so good.
If you are thinking Motivation = Bribe, I don't disagree. I'm falling into the "Whatever Works" camp on this one. Call it a bribe if you want. If it gets me a few extra days of Exceptional Behavior, it's well worth it to me.
1 comment:
We do the same thing around our house, but my prizes aren't as cool! My kids get to play with friends or go to the pool!! But I think that whatever works moto is the best!!
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