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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Bringing Back the Rainbow Chart. And Are Terrible 6's a Thing?

I know my girls will read this one day.

So I want to be gentle.

But, Ashlyn Grace.

2014 has been a sassy year for you so far.

And it's time to regulate.

Discipline is a tricky thing.

Personal to each family.

No one has all the answers.


But this system worked well for Kayla years ago.

And we started back up again today.

And we've had the smoothest morning in months.

I will speak for my children.

They like structure and organization.

They like goals.

They like clear rules and consequences.

They like reasonable rewards for doing good.

This discipline system incorporates all of these things.

And makes me sane.

So I thought I'd share it.



Right click above image, save as, print and have at it.

It's pretty simple, really.

Kids start on green each morning.

Each child has their name written on a separate magnet.

Break a family rule?

Have child move their magnet to yellow.

Break another family rule?

Move to red.

Choose from consequence jar.

Consequences are written on large popsicle sticks that we keep in a mason jar.

Obviously, these will be different for each family and each child even.

No iPad time for that day.

Early bedtime.

Time out in room for 30 minutes.

Your choice.

The thought of no iPad for a day sends Ashlyn into a frantic tizzy.

So that's her button.

So her jar has about 10 of those.

That's another great thing.

You can choose the amount something appears which will increase the probability it is picked.

Same goes with rewards.

Catch them being kind and nice?

Have them move their button to blue.

Catch them again in the same day?

Move to purple.

Chose a reward.


These are also written on popsicle sticks and kept in a separate mason jar.

Be sure not to mix them up.

Because that's future therapy for sure.

You don't have to go crazy.

Extra book at bedtime.

Extended bedtime.

A movie on Netflix.

Special dessert or treat.

You know what your kids love.

And hear me out.

The goal is not to create greedy, performance-based robots.

The goal is that my girls grow to understand and live out the verse at the top.

I want our home to be one of love.

Joy.

Peace.

Patience.

Kindness.

Goodness.

Gentleness.

Self-control.

And when it's not, I want to take action to fix it.

I recognize that they are little humans.

And have bad days just like adults.

So grace abounds.

Much grace.

For them and for me.

Every day is a fresh start.


And this little bugger was up all night.

So she's on red today.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Thursday.

It's raining.

It's pouring.

Our dog is snoring.

I feel like he can rest a little easier now that his fur has grown back a bit.

He's no longer pink.

And doesn't need sunscreen during walks.

Dave is speaking to me again.

This is all good news.



Kayla is kind of serious about this violin business.

I love that we might have a band geek.

I pray for a band geek.

Band geeks stay out of trouble.

Unrelated.

I'm just wondering if the Superbowl could have been any more boring?

At the last minute Dave put together a friendly survey.

We had a variety of predictions to make.



Over little details of the game.

I've NEVER heard a group of people cheer so loudly over a coin toss.

Or gasp in disgust when the national anthem presenter didn't wear gloves.

Or be so concerned over the Red Hot Chili Peppers attire.

"YES THEY HAVE NO SHIRTS!!!!!!!!!!!"


Jumping up and down and screaming like we were in Sochi or something.

Anyhow.

Yesterday was a marathon of hectic.

Minimum day.

Speech and debate class for the girls.

We crashed a homeschool class.

Cochlear mapping for Ashlyn up at UCSF.

During commute hour.

With my baby on the floor of the sound booth during testing.

Evening service.

Today I'm choosing to be less crazy.

The girls are off to school.

After Ashlyn's Missing Lion King Umbrella Crisis of 2014.

She settled for a Dry Bar one.

She doesn't know that one day she will love the Dry Bar way more than Mufasa.

I'm getting a haircut this afternoon.

And my mom is cooking dinner for us.

Thanks, mom.

Thursday night family dinners are pretty much the best.

I'm Fitness Palling again.

Which makes me want to murder everyone.

But I went bathing suit shopping yesterday.

And that also made me want to murder everyone.

So.

To prevent deaths.

Egg white breakfast sandwiches and iced green tea for days.



And just in case you were wondering?

She's not interested in making any Fitness Pals.

And don't touch her chips.

Stay dry, folks.

I missed these puddles.