ugh. this morning was significantly less great than friday.
layla was up in plenty of time today. slept in her clothes again, so at least that was done. after a little bit of groggy couch-sitting time, she told me she was hungry. I said to do her other chores and then she could have breakfast. she had a fit.
then I caught her in the kitchen rearranging her chore cards and I had to inform her that she was not allowed to do that. I put them in the order I want her to do them in and she needed to leave them alone. she had a fit.
she then sat on the couch and got out her leapster, which she proceeded to play. I started second-guessing myself and decided I needed to get bossy and MAKE her get ready.
I took her leapster and told her to get moving on her chores. she had a fit and cried and told me she wished there was no such thing as chores and said that all of her chores, except eating breakfast, were too hard. (you know, highly technical and complicated tasks like brushing her teeth, making her bed, and
I said, ‘oh well’ and continued helping micah get ready.
she sat on the couch until I told her to get her shoes on because it was time to leave for the bus.
she put her shoes and coat on and we walked out the door.
she trudged the whole way to the bus stop, but we made it on time. she did give me an extra long hug before she got on, but was smiling as she waved as the bus was pulling away.
so…
I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing here. it’s not the fact that she’s going to school w/ her hair a mess and no breakfast that I’m questioning. it’s the fact that I’m ‘letting’ her get away with not doing her chores. I’m allowing her to sit on the couch or do whatever she darn well pleases in the mornings. sure, she’s not earning the perks that go along with completing chores, and she’s going to school hungry… but I don’t know if that’s really going to motivate her, or if it’s just giving her what she wants, which is to not have to take responsibility for the things she’s supposed to take responsibility for. she has other opportunities to complete different chores in the afternoon and evening, and she’s not exactly a big eater, so food has never been a big motivator for her…
should I continue with this? or should I get mean and ‘make’ her do it, regardless of the unpleasantness that will inevitably accompany it?
maybe I need to step it up and make the consequence for not doing anything in the morning steeper…
I'd love to hear how you resolve this issue of getting your kids to be motivated to do their chores without being reminded. Right now I'm letting lily decide when she does the homework she gets on Monday that's due the following monday, and so far she's chosen to do it on Sunday afternoon, which is not what I wanted. But I don't want to nag all the time either. So I'm all ears to any suggestions anyone gives on this.
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