I Am That Mom.

The mom that bribes.
When I first started this blog I wasn't sure I will have much to write about. After all, I do stay home, I am not creative and for the most part do not craft (save the kids' scrapbooks and all the clothes I made for Rachael before she was born. Girls are so much fun to dress!) It's interesting how motherhood provides one with all the material they would need to write (and takes away all the time to do it :) This post is mommyhood inspired.
I first discovered the joys of bribery when it was time to teach Jadin to read (or, at least I thought it was time.) He didn't take to it right away. He was only three and his attention span has never been the greatest. He would much rather run outside. But it was February, and it's not pretty here. Unless you have hot flashes, of course, which we are all too young for that.
But I digress. Being stuck at home with two small boys and bored to the point of being willing to teach a hyper 3yo to read, I ordered 'One Hundred Easy Lessons...' (love that book, by the way, it has seen a lot of use with both boys) Since Jadin thought it was fun for about the first two minutes, I promised him candy at the end of each completed lesson.
And so it began. The bribery, I mean. After it worked miracles with reading, we moved to meals. If you want a treat, you have to finish your food. Oh, wow! Those plates got cleaned up. In some cases (Jadin) fast, in some (Daniel) not so fast (but then again, Daniel is just slow at everything).
Awww, and then, sweet Rachael. Stubborn as a mule. Gotta love the child for her single mindedness, though. I am sure it will serve her well in the future. She decided she didn't like it when mommy played flute and would start making heart wrenching screams and producing huge tears every time she'd hear (or thought she heard) flute music, or when I was out of sight for more than 10 sec. at a time. Oh, joy! M. asked me what I did to the poor thing to cause that kind of a reaction. (didn't do anything, I promise) A sucker and permission to play in the sink in slowly dripping water did the trick. We went from 'If you want to play in the water, honey, you have to let mommy play the flute' to her bringing my flute case to the bathroom (I need the mirror to make sure I am playing with the correct embouchure) saying 'Mommy! Come play flute!' LOL.
And now, naps. We had a looooong screaming session yesterday which resulted in 'If Rachael screams in her bed she doesn't get a sucker' rule. It was demonstrated to her in the afternoon. She threw fits ('I want a suuuuuuucker!!!!! Mommy didn't give me a suuuuucker' You get the idea.) I quietly explained to her (about a hundred times) that screaming in her bed during nap time means NO SUCKER.
Today there were no tears. She played in her bed for a while, explained to me that she is going to close her eyes to get a sucker (insert about 50'that's right, honey's here) and is happily snoozing just as I am typing this.
Ahhhh, the power of bribing.