Wednesday, October 19, 2011

WFMW: Break the Dawdling

I have an idea that has worked wonders for my dawdler and thought I'd share.

Toby (6, 1st grade) is a dawdler. He would literally take 8-12 minutes or more just to get his pajamas off in the mornings. DH asked me to come up with something to encourage him to get a move on! Truth be told, our first inclination was to punish for dawdling. I never really fleshed that out, but who wants to wake up to potential discipline every morning before school? So instead we're rewarding for being fast.

I created the "Toby's 10 and Under Time Sheet" and hung it on the wall. Toby has 10 minutes for each of three tasks (get dressed, eat breakfast, wash and brush) and then (because there were 4 slots on the premade sheet) he gets a bonus point if he does all three things under time. For the last two days Toby has been able to get his stuff done in far under the time allotted!! Added bonus? Aidan (8, 2nd grade) took it upon himself to run the timer and draw the stars on the chart. Aidan and Toby are my two who have the most friction. Aidan has been Toby's timekeeper AND chief cheerleader! Double bonus points for that! :) Most surprising thing? I didn't even specify an incentive. It's enough for Toby to get the points and stars on the chart.

So that's what works for me this week! See if you can find something that works for you at We Are That Family!