I love my D. He is enthusiastic, exuberant, and LOVES life. Those are fantastic qualities and I absolutely love those things about him. The flip side of that is he sometimes has a hard time controlling himself which can cause a lot anger, frustration, and hurt feelings. Through the years we have tried different techniques and approaches to help him with self mastery, but so far nothing has clicked.
Until now.
I have been researching and praying for ways to help him and one night after praying (again) I remembered how successful the "clip up" system is at school. At school they use a "clip up" system where you move a clothespin up or down a chart based on your behavior. I thought about it for a few days and decided that when he earns seven stickers he is allowed to choose one item at the dollar store. Because his behavior affects the entire family the whole family had to be involved. Over time we have become so focused on the negative behavior we have minimized the good. And there is soooo much good. I sat everyone down and told them the goal is to have D at the top of the chart by the end of every night so we all have to be on the lookout for when he is on his best behavior.
We have been doing it for a few weeks and I am cautiously optimistic. It's like we have new kids around here. D is extremely motivated by a trip to the dollar store and M and J go out of their way to look for D making good choices. It has been wonderful; not perfect, but wonderful. Not sure how long this will last, but loving it while it does.
Until now.
I have been researching and praying for ways to help him and one night after praying (again) I remembered how successful the "clip up" system is at school. At school they use a "clip up" system where you move a clothespin up or down a chart based on your behavior. I thought about it for a few days and decided that when he earns seven stickers he is allowed to choose one item at the dollar store. Because his behavior affects the entire family the whole family had to be involved. Over time we have become so focused on the negative behavior we have minimized the good. And there is soooo much good. I sat everyone down and told them the goal is to have D at the top of the chart by the end of every night so we all have to be on the lookout for when he is on his best behavior.
We have been doing it for a few weeks and I am cautiously optimistic. It's like we have new kids around here. D is extremely motivated by a trip to the dollar store and M and J go out of their way to look for D making good choices. It has been wonderful; not perfect, but wonderful. Not sure how long this will last, but loving it while it does.
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