Drastic Times = Drastic Measures

I received a call from S-O's MDO teacher 3x's last week.

Hitting, pushing, pinching.

Ok, disobeying the teacher....I can deal with.

Not sitting still during circle time....dealable.

Having to be chased by, not one, not two, but three adults when it's time to come inside from recess...manageable.

Hitting, pushing, pinching....(long pause) (deep breath)

NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!

We WILL NOT, ABSOLUTELY IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM, ALLOW THIS BEHAVIOR FROM OUR CHILD!!!

The first day, we grounded her from watching Dora, explained what would happen if it happened again, and rehearsed how she is to respect her teachers and friends.

The second day, I informed her teachers upon drop off that I would appreciate a phone call if any of said behavior occurs.

38 minutes later....I got the call.

I was back up to the school in 11minutes with the intent to follow through with said spanking. (long pause, deep breath)

I thought about it. Conceptually. She hits...I hit. Something didn't fit.

I didn't spank. Instead, I talked to her about her friends feelings and tried to help her understand.

The 3rd day. Ah...that 3rd day. I got the call around 11:30.

Uncontrollable on the playground. Pushing. Pinching. Timeout. Trip to the Directors Office. Had to sit in the RED chair. Hysterical crying and flayling of the arms.

(long pause, deep breath)

Her punishment...John and I put EVERY (and I mean EVERY) toy she owns upstairs in the playroom....and left her favorite ones on the stair case for her to see everytime she goes down the hallway. The plan: make her earn back her toys one at a time by displaying proper behavior.

This weekend was rough. Every single good thing she did received a reward of one toy of her choice AND every single thing she did wrong resulted in a toy being taken away again. She earned and re-lost the same 4 toys about 50 times the first 2 days. We were stuck on 5 toys until today.

Today, she earned back 15 toys.

She's like a different child.

Yes ma'am. No sir. Thank you. Kisses to Mommy/Daddy/Baby Rae. She set the table for dinner (forks and napkins) and put her dirty dishes in the sink...unprompted! She even reminded me that she hadn't brushed her teeth yet when I went to tuck her in for bed.

I'm dumbfounded. I hope it lasts.

Tomorrow will be the BIG test day at school. We will see if our method worked. (BTW, thanks to Traci for sharing this idea with me) I'll provide an update later.