A New Tactic

Geneva is beginning to understand the concept of delayed gratification. So I am taking advantage of this and have instituted our new

"Good Choices Chart."

As many of you may know, I'm big on pointing out to the kids that they are making their own choices. A favorite expression of mine is, "Choose listening." If I want them to put their shoes on so we can leave the house I might say, "You can choose your pink sneakers or your brown boots." When they don't want to do something (like take a nap) I might say, "It's your choice; however, if you don't take a nap you wont get to watch your show (or play outside, or do your art project, etc.) so you decide: nap and show or no nap and no fun."

What I'm finding is that some of my schedule is getting interrupted by means of following through on a consequence I've doled out to one of them. In order to keep more consistency with our rewards/consequences and to make my job a little easier, I put together this chart:

If you look closely, you'll see that Geneva needs to earn 5 "stars" in order to attend her friend Jaysa's birthday party on Saturday (obviously, the "reward" will change every week). The stars can be added to the chart and also taken away. We start the day with a star. The goal is to finish the day with the star. The star comes a goes throughout the day but the girls are given a chance to "earn back" their star if the situation presents itself before bedtime.

Avery doesn't have a "goal" at the end of her row... but she's still grasping the concept and doesn't seem to notice that she's missing anything.

They are really into THE CHART. 

Here they are making one as a gift... 

It's for GGPa. I'm sure he'll be so pleased to know he has his own "Good Choices Chart" now too.

Can you believe this little sweetheart doesn't always make the best choice on the first try?

Shocking right?