Reward System

I thought that I would fill you guys in on a reward system that Eric and I are trying to implement. We can't take the whining or the "I want Mommy to do it" anymore. We have come up with a system that if we ask the boys to do something (take off your shoes and socks and put them in your room for example) and they do it right away without whining or complaining then they will get a penny. They can save up their pennies for prizes. 3 pennies gets you a fruit roll up or some other candy type treat. 6 pennies gets you a match box car. 10 pennies gets you a trip to Rita's. (Michael says he's saving all of his pennies for Rita's.

This worked great the first time we asked the boys to take off their shoes and socks, put them in their room and then wash hands. David and Michael each got a penny. Later that night, getting ready for baths, I had taken off Michael's clothes and asked him to put them in the hamper--he threw the clothes down saying "No, you do it". I then calmly asked David to take his clothes to the hamper, he scooped them up, ran down the hall, put them in the hamper, ran back saying what a good helper he was. This earned him a penny. When Michael saw that, he immediately scooped up his clothes ran them to the hamper, ran back and asked for his penny. I told him that he did not earn a penny because of his behavior. He was devastated, you would have thought I told him he would have to skip Christmas. He cried and cried until finally of course I felt terrible. I did not give in and told him that maybe tomorrow he could have better behavior and earn more pennies.

Then of course it seemed like things had calmed down until the boys were getting ready for bed and David asked if we were going to Rita's in their PJ's? He just figured I would give him the rest of the pennies and then we would go. Guess they are going to finally learn the meaning of patience by having to earn something. Stay tuned to see if it works!