After reading your suggestions and talking to some of you in person, I hatched some ideas with Hubs to up our motivation and surveillance strategies with G. First, we went back to our penny system (one of the many things we tried with the babysitter who watched the boys for us while I worked until G's inconsistent behavior chased her off). The system is simple: There are four main things we want to work on with G at the moment. Each is on an index card with a corresponding picture that explains it, and they're posted on a board in our dining room. G can earn a penny for each of the rules he follows each day - or have one taken away any time he breaks a rule. We (in theory) go over the rules each morning and evening and of course come up with ways throughout the day that G can earn more pennies (like behaving in the grocery store, playing nicely with his brother, etc.). The number of pennies G has earned by the end of the day determine how many toys I'll leave in a bag for him in the bathroom near his room (left there so he'll use the toilet before he takes the toys, hopefully). Combine the pennies with the fact that I spent the latter half of last week sleeping on the sofa after Andrew left for work - the surveillance strategy - so I could thwart any attempts by G to do naughty things in the dark of morning, and you've got our basic game plan.
And it's worked out alright - not perfectly, but alright - enough so that I have already stopped sleeping on the sofa. So of course this morning I got up to make sure G was using the toilet and not just taking the toys (and snack) back to his room, only to find him - you guessed it - in the first stages of quietly removing the baby gate from the wall.
Grr.
Burnination!
So what, really, is the appropriate punishment for the crime intended but never committed? I'm sure our legal system makes some provision for criminal plots never carried out, but my kids is three. I wagged my finger in his face, used my (hushed since Rhys was still asleep) stern Mommy voice, and swatted his bottom rather lightly. But even though I was seeing red and now wide awake at six in the morning (not my preferred time to be wide awake, thank you), nothing else felt like it was appropriate or right to do.
Happy Hump Day, folks. Stay out of
trouble. (And maybe stay away from thinking about it too...)
2 comments:
We are having baby gate issues too. B can knock down the gate any time he wishes and faster than I would like.
I am seriously considering installing nursery doors. Like the ones at church (I know they have an actual name, I just cannot think of it now).
Take a hollow core door split it, add some trim on the split ends to cover up hollow-ness, make sure to trim enough length off the door to make up for hollow-ness cover-up and install. The only draw back is when you install it you have to add extra hinges to the door jamb. Honestly, I am beginning to think it is worth the later aggravation!
Good luck!
Hey, just a thought, take or leave... but my husband suggested Legos (the regular little ones) since G is obviously a smart kiddo who likes to figure out how things work. Maybe having a Lego project to work on in the mornings would capture his interest enough to leave the baby gate alone?
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