Marbles

Chloe has been testing us the last few weeks. She has started doing things which a couple of months ago, she just wouldn't do. I don't want to list all her misbehaviour but it's general disobedience and her attitude. I think because Chloe is an emotional and quite dramatic little bean, she can escalate situations in her mind and remain 'in a mood' about something, which then puts the day a bit out of kilter. It's quite hard to draw her out of a circle of attention-seeking bad behaviour, punishment and then a worse mood.

(As an aside, I wonder whether other parents find their children's behaviour deteriorates towards the end of the summer holidays? I feel a lot of it is boredom-related or that we're all losing our patience just a little!)

The sanctions we were using (mainly time outs or confiscations) were just not having any effect. We'd get into a crazy spiral of Chloe having various things confiscated and we couldn't keep track of it! Or she'd be brooding in her room, not really calming down. I guess these are good occasional punishments but don't do much to promote good behaviour. Things had to change.

Our latest plan (and it's early days so it may fail completely!) is to have a jar with marbles in - 10 at the start of the week. Chloe can gain marbles for good behaviour; especially following commands straight away! She will lose marbles if we have to keep repeating ourselves and she is deliberately ignoring us. Or any serious offence (picking on Livia is going to be a big one!). If she gets to Friday with 10 or more marbles then she can stay up late and play a game with us. Chloe seems keen on the idea today so I am hoping it will be something she will get on board with. 

I will keep you posted on how it works out!