New Strategy

This is a picture of our new discipline strategy.  I was so tired of begging Lucy to do things or feeling like I was threatening her all day.  A co-worker uses this technique (with some variations) on her two kids and it sounded like it had possibility.  Here's what we're doing.  Lucy can "earn" these little decorator beads (which, will from here on out be referred to as marbles) by doing tasks she is asked right away without whining.  Also, if we catch her doing something nice or something that is helpful she can get a marble for that too.  She can then use her marbles to "purchase" activities and treats.  We're only 24 hours into the new strategy, but so far it is working like magic.  She is so excited to earn marbles that she put her pjs on by herself last night and put the silverware away out of the dishwasher.  She managed to earn 10 marbles before bedtime and she decided to purchase 5 minutes of tub time and an extra bedtime story.  The beauty is that even with these extras she was in bed on time because we weren't spending time bickering about the busy stuff in between.

This morning on the way to the babysitter's house she did have two concerns though.  1.)  Does Papa know she can also earn marbles from him?  and 2.) How many marbles does she need to earn for a trip to Africa?