Charts

We've been having morning challenges. Challenges=crazy, desperate crying and screaming by everyone. Actually Phil doesn't cry or scream, he just gets crabby and says irrational things.

So, we decided that the solution was to make reward charts for the children. No fits. No whining. No crying. No shouting. Say please. Get dressed on time. Brush teeth when asked. If the kids do these things they get a sticker on their new sticker charts. 10 stickers=a trip to the ice cream store. This method has worked morning improvement plan (MIP) in the past.

So, yesterday we put the MIP in place. While I still freaked out, the kids did much better. Phil said he wished he could have video taped me, because when I spilled my coffee he saw a textbook case of desperation. He also admitted that the day before he had spilled grits in the ninth hour and panicked.

Last night I made charts for both kids. Sumner put his sticker on his. Ramona flipped out because the chart was not made to her specifications. So she worked last night at making it just so and went through several drafts. Finally she gave up and went to bed. This morning, she set out to get it just so. I was loading the dishwasher. After about 10 minutes she came to show it to me, "Mom, I made a chart for you. It is a screaming chart." There were little squares and in one square was two stickers, layered on top of each other, "The first one is for when you yelled at me [She asked for half of a bagel and when I handed her half she freaked because she really wanted half of a half. I may have raised my voice when telling her to "JUST EAT AS MUCH AS YOU WANT! STOP SCREAMING!"]. The second one is for when you're good."

I need that reinforcement. Thank God for my teacher-children.