Lessons on Mother's Day

I struggle constantly with the idea of bribing versus positive reinforcement. The big boy is at a point where he REALLY appreciates the value of a dollar...he saves up, rolls pennies, and begs for trips to target to buy legos when he has "earned"enough money.

This morning, being Mother's Day and all, was no different. We were all racing around trying to get dressed for the brunch that I arranged. (mother's day or not, if you want it the way you want it...do it yourself!). A control freak on all fronts, I had already placed the kids' clothes on their beds and was trying to dry my hair and put on a smidge of makeup before we left. And just like every other day, the little girl refused to wear what I put out for her. No amount of "its too cold to wear a sleeveless dress" and "no you can't wear your fleece sweatsuit" was getting through her adorable little head of blond curls. There were tears, tantrums, and fears for what this says about our teen years. Exasperated and desperate to get some concealer on the bags under my eyes worthy of a surcharge at US Airways I offered the big boy three dollars to help her get dressed.

Desperate for a new star wars lego set...he accepted the challenge.

And wouldn't you know it that three minutes later she came bounding into the bathroom with her dress on (albeit backwards) and a big smile on her face.

So for three dollars I learned, all you have to do is take her baby doll away, put it WAY up on the dresser where she can't reach it and tell her she can have it back when she puts her dress on. And viola...her dress is on.

It may be Mother's Day, but I got schooled in mothering by my 5 year old today. I would say he definitely "earned" his money!