Thursday, December 29, 2011

Bribery Works

Back in the 70s, when I was a child, it was referred to as a reward.  Somewhere in this Politically Correct world (where it is no longer kosher to discipline your child), it has become bribery.  Let's work on positive reinforcements for our children, but if you offer them any kind of reward for good behavior, it's a bribe.  I honestly don't see how that makes sense, I just have to live with it.

So as I was saying, bribery works.  My father used it.  Report card day was money day in my house.  A's = $1, B's = $0.50, C's = $0, D's = giving Dad $0.50, and F's = giving Dad $1.  Amazingly, I never had to give Dad any money.  I wouldn't dare do that to my bank accou...I mean to him.

So, when my daughter was born I knew I was going to bribe her, too.   She loved report card day as much as I did.  She was saddened, I'm sure, to see it end upon graduation.  Maybe I should offer this to her with her college report cards.  Of course, I could go broke.  She is a great, and hard-working student.

Little R has a little ways to go before I start paying for report cards.  But bribery works for him, just the same.

I've been having issues with his sleeping since he was sick last July.  Nothing horribly life shattering, just him crawling in bed with his dad and me in the middle of the night.  We decided to let him grow out of it, but I have a small fear that I'll still have him in my bed at 11 years old.  I was so inspired by 2 nights of him staying in his own bed all night that I had to try for a third.  Enter bribery.

After a day of good boy behavior, I offered him a special Sumo Wrestler car from Disney*Pixar's Cars 2 if he would go to bed without a fuss and stay in his bed all night.  After a quiet night of reading a magazine before I went to bed, I climbed into bed wondering, "Will be remember to stay in his bed all night?"  I was awake at 1am, 5am, and 6am.  Each time I checked my bed, the floor, and even the dog's bed to see if he was in my room.  At 6:30am, I heard the most beautiful sound, snoring through the baby monitor.

At 7:30am, Little R came to the kitchen to greet his daddy and me.  A smile was going from one ear to the other.  "I stayed in my bed all night!  I get the Sumo Car!"

Yes, Little R, you stayed in bed all night.  Bribery works.

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