Week ending June 15, 2008: The pictures this week are of the dune buggy that we made out of the erector set, the pile of parts left after we dismantled the dune buggy, and the robot that we made out of the same parts.
This week Alex and Chloe became Jr Entrepreneurs. Ever since she heard that her cousins get paid to do chores, Chloe has been bugging me about what she can do to earn money. Since the kids receive gift money and souvenir money, and I let them spend it right away, they’ve learned the cause and effect that if they have money, they can get stuff they want. One day this week she was particularly adamant that I tell her what she could do to earn money so I decided she could pick up pine cones so that I could mow the lawn. She and Alex each earned a quarter and later that day we went to Sam’s Club and they each bought a gum ball. The cause-and-effect was totally reinforced and now they are hooked on earning money. It has taken me a while to come up with ideas for what they can do to earn money. Their cousins wash dishes and do chores that the twins are incapable of. I’m undecided about whether I want to pay them to do chores like dusting when I know I’ll have to go behind them and do it again. The lesson in reward for effort would be nice, but I’d really like to get something for my money. I toyed with the idea of paying them for breaking bad habits like giving Chloe a quarter if she could go 4 days without intentionally hurting her brother. Her pinching, hitting, and scratching is really troublesome to the family, but I don’t know how to make an equal offer to Alex.
This week Alex’s behavior has been sub-par. Usually Alex likes rules because they make his life predictable, but this week he has been bucking the system. Some examples are he and Chloe were fighting over a toy, I decided that it was Chloe’s turn and Alex could have the toy in 2 minutes when it would be his turn. This has been standard operating procedure for years, and is generally accepted by all parties involved, but this week it resulted in Alex pounding his fist on the stairs and yelling “NO! (pound) NO! (pound) NO! (pound)”. The rest of the week was much the same. “Alex, it is time to brush your teeth”, “NO! (kicking and screaming)”. “Alex, please pick out your clothes and get dressed”, “NO! (kicking and screaming)”. I’m not sure what alien has invaded my child, but I’m thinking about an exorcism. I also noticed that 3 times this week Alex has skipped dinner. We require presence at the dinner table, but eating is optional. The only catch is that no other food is provided until the dinner is eaten, so the evening snack offered is the dinner plate, which Alex again refused all 3 times. I put 2 and 2 together and determined that Alex was miserable because hunger was making him cranky and decided he couldn’t leave the table until his dinner was gone. Even after eating a proper dinner, he was still miserable the next day. We’d finally gotten away from making separate dinners for the kids and now it looks like we are in for another struggle to enforce the “you eat what you get” rule. Sometimes I just wonder if all this struggle is worthwhile.
Also this week we had a surprise birthday party for Grammy Barb. She seemed to genuinely surprised and all parties involved seemed to enjoy themselves.
This week Alex and Chloe became Jr Entrepreneurs. Ever since she heard that her cousins get paid to do chores, Chloe has been bugging me about what she can do to earn money. Since the kids receive gift money and souvenir money, and I let them spend it right away, they’ve learned the cause and effect that if they have money, they can get stuff they want. One day this week she was particularly adamant that I tell her what she could do to earn money so I decided she could pick up pine cones so that I could mow the lawn. She and Alex each earned a quarter and later that day we went to Sam’s Club and they each bought a gum ball. The cause-and-effect was totally reinforced and now they are hooked on earning money. It has taken me a while to come up with ideas for what they can do to earn money. Their cousins wash dishes and do chores that the twins are incapable of. I’m undecided about whether I want to pay them to do chores like dusting when I know I’ll have to go behind them and do it again. The lesson in reward for effort would be nice, but I’d really like to get something for my money. I toyed with the idea of paying them for breaking bad habits like giving Chloe a quarter if she could go 4 days without intentionally hurting her brother. Her pinching, hitting, and scratching is really troublesome to the family, but I don’t know how to make an equal offer to Alex.
This week Alex’s behavior has been sub-par. Usually Alex likes rules because they make his life predictable, but this week he has been bucking the system. Some examples are he and Chloe were fighting over a toy, I decided that it was Chloe’s turn and Alex could have the toy in 2 minutes when it would be his turn. This has been standard operating procedure for years, and is generally accepted by all parties involved, but this week it resulted in Alex pounding his fist on the stairs and yelling “NO! (pound) NO! (pound) NO! (pound)”. The rest of the week was much the same. “Alex, it is time to brush your teeth”, “NO! (kicking and screaming)”. “Alex, please pick out your clothes and get dressed”, “NO! (kicking and screaming)”. I’m not sure what alien has invaded my child, but I’m thinking about an exorcism. I also noticed that 3 times this week Alex has skipped dinner. We require presence at the dinner table, but eating is optional. The only catch is that no other food is provided until the dinner is eaten, so the evening snack offered is the dinner plate, which Alex again refused all 3 times. I put 2 and 2 together and determined that Alex was miserable because hunger was making him cranky and decided he couldn’t leave the table until his dinner was gone. Even after eating a proper dinner, he was still miserable the next day. We’d finally gotten away from making separate dinners for the kids and now it looks like we are in for another struggle to enforce the “you eat what you get” rule. Sometimes I just wonder if all this struggle is worthwhile.
Also this week we had a surprise birthday party for Grammy Barb. She seemed to genuinely surprised and all parties involved seemed to enjoy themselves.
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