23 May 2008

bribery

I am such a believer in bribery.

Miss C has slept in our bed her whole life with the exeption of a few random nights when she was moved by one of us (and ultimately joined us later). These days, I'm feeling a bit ready to have her move on, at least partway. She has a nice bed with a quilt I envy and removable princess stickers on her headboard that officially give her a princess bed. But that was not enough to convince her to do more than randomly nap in it when forced by sheer exhaustion.

And then:

This week her current love affair (a la Target) is the Furreal Baby Duckling:


She has the kitten and the blue and purple bird, but the duck is next on her agenda.
We're about to find out just how deep her love for this "duckie" runs since she has currently got a chart on her door with 2 pictures of the duck and seven (pink) squares. For each night she sleeps in her bed, she gets to put a sticker on a pink square. When the seven squares are full, back to Target we will go and the duckie will come home.
This started Thursday night. She would come out of her room every 3 minutes and ask if she got her duckie yet. Uh...maybe the concept was a bit above her head? She finally fell asleep in Daddy's arms much later than we'd hoped, but did indeed sleep through in her own bed! Tonight, she's out like a light. No fighting, nothing. I think she loves that duck.
I've already decided to find something else for the following week or 10 days after that just to keep it going.

2 comments:

Our Love Story said...

A little bribery does go a long way. You are teaching her delayed gratification - something many kids these days have no concept of. Great work! I see the concept in my future (said as I hold sleeping 9 month babe who will only nap in arms or bed with me!

Carbon said...

oh that's awesome! i think i'm gonna have to try out that system for my boy and getting him to potty train. he's not interested in getting out of his diapers, though he's physically ready.

the hamster in my head is starting to move.