Over the past few months Scarlett has become extremely independent. She announces to us that she wants to do everything herself all the time. Even the smallest tasks she tries to do herself like drying herself off after a bath or zipping up her pants. Some things she can do by herself but other hard tasks, I have to help with. It's hard for her to accept help and she gets very frustrated and upset. It's wonderful to have an independent child, but it's a challenge to handle a strong-willed child too. I have to pick and choose my battles!
Over the summer, Amazon had a Prime Day sale with thousands of items on sale. I found a special Melissa and Doug responsibility chart that I thought would be a good buy to help her with. I feel that Scarlett is now ready to use the chart, especially since she's having trouble listening at both school and home. Scarlett is a high-energy child and if you open the classroom door she will run out. She finds freedom exciting and will not seize any opportunity to attain it. It's something we're working on and it's something I'm not a fan of. She also has trouble sitting for circle time and is easily distracted.
The chart comes with categories of responsibility and encouraging magnets that you put in each day of the week. Some of the categories are too advanced at the moment for Scarlett, but I tried to pick the best ones that she needs the most help on. For her age range and needs, I chose brushing teeth (she hates this), show respect (also using this as listening), clean up toys, and no whining. We have a lot of whining and crying in our house and I'd love to eliminate the noise!
I introduced the chart today and Scarlett seems to like it so far. I did my best to explain what it's for and why we're using it. She seemed to get it and loved all of the colorful magnets too. It's hanging in our kitchen and she already was able to put a magnet on for brushing her teeth and following directions. Hopefully tomorrow we'll have even more progress!
Since she's so young, I don't think she has the capacity to understand doing all of the tasks for an entire week before receiving a prize. If she can do all of the above tasks in a single day, I will let her choose a small prize. I plan on going to the dollar store and buying some little toys and crayons that she can select from. Hopefully the incentive of picking out a new surprise everyday will keep her motivated.
I may tweak how I use the chart slightly, but this is a rough idea of how I want to use it. I like that it grows with your child as they age and the tasks change. I also want to see if her school would be on board for using stickers as an incentive to help her listen too.
I'm thinking positively here and hope to see my little angel make a step in the right direction behavior wise. Wish us luck!
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