There is no denying what things have come to around here. Whenever Kosty wants someone to play with, he comes & gets ME. Whenever Brayden wants someone to play with, he comes and gets ME . Its so crazy that the last person they want to play with is each other! Hello?! My plan to have two boys to be best buds, and to have them entertain each other is seeming to fail before my eyes! Before Kosty was born, I can remember Brayden always saying he wished he had a brother. So, the sweet parents that we are, we granted his wish :) ...about 6 months into it... Brayden revealed to me that he wanted a brother that could talk & walk & play...not a baby. So I told him to be patient, soon enough he will be doing all those things! Well now he is, but Brayden still thinks he is too much like a baby. In fact, when Kosty talks really clearly, Brayden will say, "Mama, did you hear that?! It sounded like a real human!!"
Today, I stooped to a major LOW. I was trying to make dinner. They were both at my feet, Kosty asking me to play Dora with him, and Brayden asking me to play a game. I pleaded with Brayden, "Can't you please play with your brother FOR ONCE while I make dinner!!?"
Brayden: "But Mama, I really really don't want to play Dora."
Me: "Kosty can't you play a game with your brother?"
Kosty: "I don wan to! I play Dora wif Mama."
Me: "AHH! Brayden, I am begging you, I am trying to put dinner on the table for you stinkers & I just want you to go play with eachother!"
More groans. Okay I am desperate. I remembered an idea I saw on Heidi A's blog. The bean jar, although I think I am putting a devious twist on it!
Me: "Every time you do something nice for Kosty or play nicely with him, I will put a bean in this jar. When its full, I will take you to Target & you can pick something out. "
Brayden: "YIPEEE! Come on Kosty, let's go play Dora!" 5 minutes later... "Kosty, do you want to play Lucky Ducks?" 5 minutes later..."Kosty! Lets play tag!"... followed by Hyper Dash and finally a game of hide and seek.
Sad, I know. Forced, yes. Bribery, absoultely. But Kosty doesn't have to know that. He's on cloud 9 & thinks Brayden is the greatest brother ever (for now)! And I got dinner on the table in peace!
16 comments:
I can totally relate to this with my girls! Bribing with the bean jar is a great idea...I am going to do this!
haHAhAh!!!! This is the funniest! Good idea!!!! Jer and Ky like playing together, but it's the constant compeating I can't stand!!!!! I'm going to use this idea too!
That is hillarious! Great idea for my future kids :) You better think now of what your going to do next after you fill the jar.
It's all about extrinsic vs. intrinsic rewards. What starts out as extrinsic motivation (bribes) can lead to intrinsic motiviation (because it makes them feel good inside). Okay, so did I just sound totally smart??? It's something that I learned forever ago in my child development classes and I've hung on to it for all these years so that I can justify bribing my kids :) I say whatever works!
wow i liked what your friend jamie had to say... and i agree... i don't think there is anything wrong with motiviating good behavior! good idea chels, you are a good mom!
ha ha so cute!! And I will have to remember the bean jar... actually you know I will not remmeber it so remind me about that in a few years!!
HILARIOUS STORY! I literally laughed out loud. That was so great. The bean jar sounds GENIOUS! I will for sure be using that idea when Libby has a sibling! Brayden is such a good big bruddah!
I don't call that bribery! I call that brilliant!
hahaha... thats a cute post, brayden is seriously so funny!! DID YOU HEAR THAT IT SOUNDED LIKE A HUMAN... to cute. I lovee lovee lovee braydens shirt, so cute! Hes a styling lil baby, better be careful he might start picking up some Cali girls this summer! :) Hopefully im still his gf by the time cali comes this year!!
PS... what in the world happened with CARLY going home on american idol, i was really really really upset!! brook should have gone home for sure, carly was the best one of the night! SO SAD :(
How funny! Brayden is hillarious, gotta love the bribe!
I have SOOOO been there, although I just always figured that if I had two boy's or two girl's together (in a row), it would be better. I guess not.
Hey, in times like that, if bribery works, HORRAY!
I would look at it more as a "bonding experience!" (You're simply helping it along . . .)
P.S. Leona did so great the other night on IDOL, don't you think?
That is the best idea! I am starting that tomorrow :) It is really hard with my boys too... Trevor thinks he is such a big first grader and way too big for a little 3 year old and then poor Tanner is doing everything he can to act like a 6 year old.
Bribery is just fine. It works in our home too. After Heidi's blog entry I decided to do something like that also. I have been really good about it, and we put a twist on it also. They gets "rocks" for nice words, small services, staying in bed at night without getting out, doing things the first time they are asked, etc...., but we can also take the rocks out for any reason. It has been SO good in our house. When their jars are full they get to have a "date" out to dinner with mom and dad only(we assume their jars won't be full at the same time) and the others kids stay at home. They love it and are working so hard at getting rocks.
So YES, bribery is just fine. Especially if you had dinner on the table when Jer got home.. =)
My girls get to go to Peter Piper Pizza when their jars are full if they are full at the same time, otherwise it's a trip to the ice cream store (Thrifty's) where my five year old usually picks out cashews!!!!! Whatever works.
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