So I devised a plan. I made her a chore chart. One day while she was at school, I made the chart on a giant piece of tag board. I decorated it with her name and pictures. We decided on four simple chores and duties that she needed to complete: picking up her toys, putting her dishes in the sink, brushing her teeth, and helping put away her clothes. Every time she completed one of these things, she got to put a sticker on her chart in the corresponding square. Once she had twenty stickers in a square, she got to pick out a new pack of stickers the next time we went to the store.
It worked like a charm. After every thing she did, she would get so excited to put her sticker on her chart. After about three weeks, she stopped putting stickers on and her actions became part of her regular routine. The chore chart has remained untouched for months.
Fast forward to approximately three weeks ago. When asked to brush her teeth before school or bed, we would get a firm "NO" and complete refusal to cooperate. After timeouts and the taking away of prized toys, she would finally oblige and do it. Bedtime has never been a problem in our house. Now she has started to try every excuse in the book to get out of going to bed or staying in bed. These are little things and her behavior has been amazing lately but these are nonnegotiable, right?!
Today during my weekly adventure to Wal-Mart, an idea hit me! As I walked past the extremely reduced priced 2011 calendars, I saw one that was the Disney Princesses.
I devised a plan and talked about it with Avery and she is on-board! Here's what we are going to do. First, we are going to take down the old chore chart. We are going to hang the calendar in it's place. Everyday, Avery will need to do five things to get four stickers: brush her teeth in the morning and at night (1 sticker at the end of the day for doing both), staying in bed at bedtime (1 sticker given in the morning for the previous night), helping set the table for dinner/cleaning up her dishes (1 sticker for both), and helping pick up toys (1 sticker given at our discretion like before).
We will make sure to note the days that she may be ill or not at home. At the end of the month, if she has all four stickers on all countable days, she will get a prize. This prize will be something small, such as, a new pack of stickers to use, glitter glues, and the like.
I really hope this limits the amount of "battles" we have about silly things. I understand she is four and I can't expect perfection from her, but the amount of 'tude the girl has rivals her mother...and there really is not enough room in this house for two attitudes that big!
I hope this might help someone who is also having behavior problems that they can't seem to resolve. Something like this could be adjusted to fit so many needs and ages.
Super Nanny would agree. Kids need to be rewarded if expected to do chores...they're just kids and don't understand the concept of "if something has to be done, you just do it". As she gets older, she won't need a chore chart or a calender. She'll have to mature and realize she just has to do it...but it's a great idea for training in the mean time. I love that brushing her teeth is considered a "chore". You should show her some pictures of teeth from people who don't brush! LOL...i think this is a great idea and more parents need to do it, because you can't expect a 4 year old to just do something "because you said so". This isn't 1897.
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