Bedtime here at the Boyce household has not been going well, to say the least. So while I was perusing the clearance aisles of Target today (possibly my last 'me time' morning?), I found a bucket of dinosaurs. I got them, thinking I'll give them to Katelyn for her birthday or something. And then it hit me! Reward system, duh!!! Where has my brain been all this time? I know reward systems work for Katelyn and yet I've been torturing her and myself by yelling and arguing. When I got home, Katelyn and I created the Bedtime Routine chart:
1. Clean up toys
2. Take a bath
3. Put on PJ's
4. Brush teeth
I explained to her she had to do all four things without any arguing and then would earn a dinosaur. She was so excited about this new chart that as soon as the sun started going down, she wanted to get ready for bed:) When it really was time for bed, she did everything on the chart with very few reminders and YAY, no yelling or arguing.
There's only 20 dinosaurs so I'm going to have to find something else that she will love just as much to keep this going. I don't think 20 days will be enough time for her to be, hmmm...what's the word I'm looking for...trained? bribed? Whatever it is I'm doing will probably take a few months. Maybe bugs next?
I'll update the progress again in a week. Keeping my fingers crossed this works!