Independent Modifications

There is a goal chart that hangs on my 'fridge. It is for my daughter. Certain "extra" things she can do around the house that can earn her stickers. Once she earns a certain amount, 25, then I will get her something she has had her eye on. There is no time frame on earning these stickers. That is her motivation. Depending on how bad she wants, whatever the object of her desire is (within budgetary specs) be it an item or place, will determine her rate of production. I let it be her choice, a conscious decision. I don't pay allowance. I feel that she should help around the house just as being a productive member of our ever so small family. And she does have chores that need to be accomplished and go without saying. But, as a compromising effort, I thought I would throw in some extra things that are within her reach to earn something special.

Well...lets just say that I haven't taken her shopping or to her place of choosing for a while. She brought this up to me the other day. And I said..."Well, do you see any stickers on that board? Hmmm maybe you should think about that." I noticed tonight, that she has been revising the goals and efforts I put out for her in an attempt to speed her number of stickers accumulated. Little booger. She took some post-its off my desk at home and started adding some things...

The first: Flushing the toilet.
The second: Brushing her teeth.
The third: Picking up her dinner dishes.

I found it all rather funny. And the fact that she had the gumption to take this into her own hands, I was somewhat proud of. However, the whole flushing the toilet and brushing her teeth had me a bit worried that these were things she had possibly not been doing as a regular part of life. Considering the fact, that the other items on the chart had not been attempted for some time. I pulled the post it off the board, walked into her bedroom and held it up for her to see. She gave me this Huge cheesy smile and said "Yes?" then broke out into laughter. Ugh..she is too cute. But we had our "talk" about being considerate for the next person to use the restroom and how brushing your teeth isn't only considerate and spares the dread of your breath to whomever you are talking to, but is good hygiene and keeps your teeth healthy. (Ha! The mommy lecture, punishment enough) And though the efforts she created will remain on the board, the stickers she puts there will not count towards her ultimate goal.

I love my kid.