Boy gets stars at school to mark his behavior - a star in the afternoon, a star at night. Until now, stars have been required for any screen time, and since that's his main motivator, it's helped him control the impulses that tell him to poke his neighbor and lose a star.
But things are changing around here as we learn about him and what he needs, we're minimizing screen time - like none at all during the week. Yesterday he got two stars and when he put two and two together that he wouldn't get to play video games even though he got his stars, you could see the gears turning. We're teaching him that being good at school is his responsibility ("his job") and we don't always get an immediate reward for doing our job.
So this morning, still wondering what would replace his video games as his reward, he peppered me with questions while we waited for the bus. I just tried to keep up.
A: "Kate, what happens when I get two stars?"
K: "I will give you a big hug and a big high five."
A: "Well, what happens when I get 200 stars?"
K: "I think we'll go out for ice cream."
A: "What if I get '10 hundred' stars?"
K: [doing mental math, 180 days in a school year, 2 stars a day, 360 maximum, ok I'm safe] "Buddy, if you get 1000 stars, we will go to Antarctica to visit the penguins." [Sure hope his teacher doesn't get any crazy ideas about calling my bluff...]
A: "What if I get 2 million thousand stars?"
K: "I'll let you be the parent, and I'll be the kid."
A: "What if I get 199 stars?"
Seriously, this went on for about 10 minutes until I finally told him my brain hurt. However, I think I've promised myself to: ice cream, a happy dance, Matt's happy dance, the dog and cat each happy-dancing, 12 high fives, and there may have been some talk about a trip to the moon.
2 comments:
When you go to Antarctica, remember to take me. ;)
That was me. ^^
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