Incentives......

I got a marker board yesterday to start working on incentives with Kali 2.8. While she's a smart girl, she has a tendancy to want to get up in the middle of the night and ask for various things (tuck me in, cuddle with Mommy, etc.). What I've noticed in recent trial runs is that if you give her some incentive to stay in her room all night, she does it without issue.

So, borrowing a page from my parenting teacher otherwise known as Supernanny, I've set up a 'Good Girl' board for her. There are 15 squares drawn on the marker board. Every time Kali stays in her room all night, she gets to put an 'X' on the board. When all of the boxes get filled, she gets to go to the store and pick out a coloring book or reading book of her choice.

In some cases, she's woke up 2-3 times a night in recent weeks. Since the new plan was implemented, she's got a perfect record.

We never give kids enough credit. They're very smart when they want to be.