It's no secret that as I child I cried...a lot. I recall my own mother using bribery on a few occasions to try to decrease my many outbursts. I still remember some barrettes she stuck to the fridge for me to admire longingly. They were rather popular in the eighties with the ribbon braided through clip, then hanging long with feathers and a few beads. They were awesome and I wanted them bad. After a week with less crying they were finally mine. When I was 5 I really wanted my ears pierced and my Mom said I had to go an entire week without any crying and I would get them pierced. Funny thing is that's how our Anna ended up getting her ears pierced when she was five. She had to go two weeks without having any tantrums. Whatever works right?
This week I was helping Ethan practice his spelling words. He always seems to miss about 2 words, and being the competitive Mom that I am I get frustrated that he can't just get them all right. As we were going through the words he kept missing the word "does" I don't know why and we tried over and over many different ways to remember it and he just couldn't get it. Finally out of desperation I bribed him by telling him that if he just got "does" right on his spelling test that week I would buy him a candy bar. As soon as I said it I felt kind of bad but it was already out there. Well sure enough he could spell "does" with ease.
He came home Friday pleased as punch because he had spelled "does" correctly. And like normal he missed two other words. I think next time I will have to bribe him with a candy bar only if he gets 100 percent.
3 comments:
We believe in bribery at our house too!
Bribery is a much nicer way to have good things happen than yelling or other things. A candy bar also made shots bearable. Now that is power!
Hey I like the idea of having it out there for them to see! I'm totally trying it with my kids!!
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