Time to Make the Donuts

Our 4 1/2 year old daughter is a great kid and she is unbelievably smart. So smart that she has advanced her attitude to that of a 14 year old. Sass complete with hands on the hips and eye rolls. Really, I think she might be a prodigy. My dad loves to say that the devil came and took me about 13 years old and returned me at 18. There are times I think that damn devil accidentally stopped at our house a few years too early.

Last week we started a Reward Chart for our daughter. There are about 6 things she is expected to do on a daily basis (i.e. make her bed, clean up her toys, get ready for bed easily, etc.) and each time she completes a task she gets a sticker to put on her chart. At the end of the week if she has gotten a certain number of stickers she gets a treat of her choosing. We have been doing this for a total of 1 week now and so far it has gone well. I'm loving our new system because it is really a nice threat to get her to do things without the impressively dramatic arguments we sometimes have. Now one mention of her not getting the sticker and she immediately goes and completes the necessary task.

There is even an added benefit I did not expect!

This morning my husband took our daughter for her treat - a trip to the donut shop. And since he eats the equivalent of 3 times his body weight on a daily basis, our son tagged along - thank God he did! From that outing, at the ripe age of 2, our little man found his true calling:


He can eat for free and work, this is ideal.