Yesterday was one of the best days we’ve had in a long time. On Tuesday we started a new motivational system with the whole house. It was a bit ironical how that came to be. The past few weeks have been on the frustrating side; we were struggling with the kiddos, and they were struggling with us and we felt that we were constantly harping on them. I think most of it comes from the fact is that we are going off duty a lot more than we used to (every other weekend compared to one weekend a month), and the house is constantly in a state of flux. We are planning after the baby arrives to go back to the once a month reliefs.
Anyway, Jonathan started a star chart system with one of the boys to help them with some struggles at school to keep him motivated, and I was reading “Raising Great Kids” by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend. I don’t agree with all of their philosophies, but both Jonathan and I really felt that we need something more positive for these kiddos. So know we have a star chart system for everyone in the house. Their goal is to get 2-3 stars a day, for a total of 15 a week. However, each child earns stars for different things. For our oldest who is struggling in school, he gets stars based on daily reports from his teacher. For our almost four year-old who is struggling with wetting her pants, she gets a star when she goes to the bathroom without me having to remind her. For two of the boys, it is eating their dinner (especially the veggies!) without complaining. The little girls and our toddler boy earn stickers for potty-training, helping clean-up their rooms and bathrooms in the morning, or little extra things that they do throughout the day. And oh my goodness, in the two days we’ve been doing this, it has completely changed the whole atmosphere of the house! We’re happier, they’re happier, and as all the kids work for their weekly stars (if the whole house can get 15 a week, then we’ll go do a special event on the weekend, such as going swimming or to the park, etc), it’s not a competition and they encourage each other. So for right now, we’re sticking to it, because it seems to be working! We may not need it in the future, but I think it will be a good thing for the summer, especially as we will probably have four kids going out with four new ones coming in.So yes, yesterday was a good day. We had a lot of fun with the three toddlers in the morning (as we aren’t having them at Mom’s Morning Out for the next couple of weeks due to germ exposure and getting X adjusted we are doing some school activities here), and after school and homework, Jonathan and I played in the backyard with the kids until 5:30. So yep, supper was late, but we sure did have a lot of fun and good bonding time with them. And then Jonathan and I got to spend some good quality time with each other after the kids went to bed, and we enjoyed that; with a house of eight, we don’t always get to focus on each other!
Well, I’ve got laundry to fold, and Cheyeanne just had an accident, so I’m off to go clean that up! :-)
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