Reader-submitted compliment: Please tell Steve that I'm inspired by his threat of taking $1 away every 15 minutes. I plan to employ this on my husband, who will crack the minute any threat with a dollar amount is imposed.
I have to admit that Steve is a genius. We used to take toys away from Michael, but he simply has too many toys to feel the loss of one of them too keenly. ("HA! Well, I've got 500 Legos!")
His piggy bank, however, has been built up slowly over the last few years. He still has the $5 bill he earned two summers ago for looking after the neighbour's cat. His father pays him to rub his feet. (I refuse to rub feet.) He now has $140.
Over the past few months, Michael has started to understand that money can be traded for goods and services. He has enough money to buy things he wants, but when faced with the choice to save or spend his own money, he usually decides to save it. The Capitalist would be proud.
This was the first time we ever threatened to take money away. There is very little punishment in our house: Michael is generally a very well-behaved kid. Although I hope there isn't a next time, at least we know what worked this time.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time
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3 comments:
Sadly, I can't take ALL of the credit... I will take some.
The money idea is really from ... you know him, you love him, the GREAT... Dr. Phil... I either read it in his book, or saw it on his show. You have to find a child's "currency" (sorry, but it was total coincidence that in Mike's case it actually was currency) and then use this "currency" as leverage with the child. A very good, strong parenting skill!
Dr. Phil???
I love Dr. Phil. Love him.
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