Saturday, May 03, 2008

The Whining Bubble Gum Jar

So, as some of you may know, I have a really whiny 3 year old on my hands. She-who-shall-not-be-named, is about ready to push me over the edge with the constant whining. Whining about putting clothes on, peeing, putting shoes on, wanting candy, not wanting what I make for dinner, whining about brushing hair, teeth,,.you ask, she whines.
I have not been a good mom about this-2 days ago, I was basically screaming, I AM AT MY WHITS END! So, I tried to think about what motivates my beautiful, funny, sweet, shy 3 year old...BUBBLE GUM. She is addicted to bubble gum. She would chew gum 24 hours a day if we let her. In a last ditch effort, I came up with a plan..the Whining Bubble Gum Jars.
We have 3 jars:
1) jar of yummy bubble gum
2) happy jar :)
3) whining jar :(
Whining means a bubble gum in the whining jar; happy, obedient, nice girl means a bubble gum in the happy jar; at the end of the day if there are pieces of bubble gum in the happy jar, the 3 year old gets to keep them, if there are bubble gum in the whining jar, the increasingly-crazy mom gets to keep them.
Here's how it's going so far:


JAR OF BUBBLE GUM

DAY ONE:
WHINING 3 YEAR OLD 2
CRAZY MOM 8



DAY TWO:
WHINING 3 YEAR OLD 4
NOT AS CRAZY MOM 2

I think we're off to a good start. My child's teeth may fall out, but she's not whining and I'm not as crazy today as I was 2 days ago!

4 comments:

JD and Lindsay said...

Bree I love it!

WIKKY said...

Very inventive. Maybe I should try that for the potty training!!! Not for a while though. Good luck!

Emily said...

Thanks Bree! That give me some good ideas! IS it just the age or what?? I've been thinking the same things about Kate lately. Yesterday, I thought okay I've failed as a mother because i seriously raised a major brat! all she does is whine, scream, cry and tantrum over nothing it seems! I think i will try some sort of reward system like yours seems to be working right?

birdie said...

What a great idea! I love it - go clever Bree, go!