It may just be these two but they are obsessed with wanting to go to the Golden Arches for the play place and some fries and the Dollarstore. OBSESSED! Like it is their happy place. And they want to go there EVERY day. Well we all know that's not going to happen. So every time they would ask and we would say no because we were just there the day or two before or earlier that week all chaos would break loose. I had had enough. There needed to be a reward system for this. Like go to work, work hard for a week or two and get a pay check and then buy something. Work=result.
So we started the happiness chart. With the help of dltk.com I made up a super simple 1 week chart for each kid. 7 days of the week and 3 times of the day (mornings, afternoon & evening). Easy. If they were good and happy and sharing in those times they got a happy face. If not they got a sad face. Now I am not expecting perfection, lack of emotional rollercoasters, no fighting over toys etc. But we are really wanting to improve on how long the recovery time takes when the hard times hit. Getting upset is fine, it's good to express how you're feeling. But it's important to learn why you're feeling that way and be able to make peace with what happened, talk about how you feel and turn it around.
With the way things were going I really thought well if we could get 10 happy faces in a week than they would get a reward. So far W (who is almost 4) understands this better than M (only 2). When things get crazy and he gets upset we talk about it and remind him that we can change and choose to make this a happy time. We can share, talk, help out and make a choice to change how we feel.
Today is day 4 and the little man has 10 happy faces on his chart. So a treat tonight it is. The more we do this, more happy faces will be required to make the goal. 10,15,20 etc and the goals/rewards will change over time.
I don't know what will happen next week, but this week this worked. I'll take it.
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