In an effort to streamline our bedtime ritual with Reilly, Shawn recently developed a sticker chart that outlined Reilly's evening tasks which included but was not limited to: brush your teeth, brush your hair, go potty, and get on your PJ's. A bonus sticker could be earned by Reilly sleeping in her bed all night. Bonus stickers earned toys.
Positive reinforcement at its finest.
Two weeks later, Reilly was moving through her bedtime ritual with only a few pauses, and her nights of crawling into mom and dad's bed were over.
Shawn was voted in as mother of the year by the discerning panel of judge (me) and we celebrated with a long nights' sleep.
Spurred on by the success of her first list, Shawn moved on to tackle an even more difficult task: the morning routine. Eschewing the sticker chart, she instead opted to use our refrigerator to scratch out Reilly's new checklist:
So far, the list has produced positive and immediate results, shortening the quantity and frequency of such comments as: "Reilly, have you brushed your teeth yet?"
And yet, the process is not perfect, as our daughter tends to dilly-dally over her breakfast for up to thirty minutes. We have considered re-ordering the list to put breakfast last. After all, that is what the 10 minute drive to school is for, right?
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