Bedtime Bribery

Lately we have been having issues with Autumn at bedtime. What was once a seamless night time routine of bath, story time and bed has now snowballed into bath, stall tactic, story time, stall tactic, playing with toys bed. Typically it is anywhere from 1-2 hours after Autumn is "put to bed" before she is actually tucked comfortably in her bed snoring away.

A couple of weeks ago, while unpacking Autumn's book bag after school, I noticed a letter from her teacher.  She was letting all of the parents know that they were beginning a new reward system at school. They had created a chart for each child, with the different days of the week listed. As the children followed directions and completed different tasks they would be given stickers. As their sticker chart filled up they would be praised and allowed to choose a "treasure" from the treasure chest.

My wheels started turning, and I thought this may be the answer to my bedtime prayers. I talked to Steve about incorporating this same system into our household. I was a little concerned that we would be using bribery to get Autumn to do something that she should be doing anyway, but figured if it works for her school then it works for me. Instead of bribery, which sounds like such a dirty word, I rationalize it as instilling the difference between good behavior and bad behavior. If you behave correctly, and do what you are supposed to do, good things will happen. If you choose the opposite, then you will get the opposite result.

Last week we started our new system. I explained to Autumn how it would work and what she needed to do to earn her sticker each night. I also told her how many stickers she needed to get her reward. Instead of an actual chart we use our calendar, and each morning, if Autumn was well behaved and went to bed without incident the night before, she gets to put a sticker on that day on the calendar. Autumn needs to earn five stickers in a row in order to gain a reward. We have been doing this for 6 nights now and Autumn has earned 5 stickers. See that empty box on the 22nd? Yeah, that was a rough night.

So far I am pleased with the difference I have seen since we have started this. There are fewer trips to the bathroom and less requests for glasses of water. Autumn is asleep sooner and wakes up happier. Mama is able to enjoy "Real Housewives of (insert any city here, I'm not picky)" in silence. Well, except for Steve!

If this is bribery and bribery is wrong, then I don't want to be right!