I love little kiddos. Plain and simple, loud and clear. I just love them. I had the joy of babysitting the Bradley kids on Monday. And man, was that a blast! I find that little kids thrive on order, and a plan. Let me explain-
I wanted the evening to go by,
-peacefully
-calmly
-fun
-and with less mess.
So, as soon as the Adults left, I let the kiddos have two toys for the whole night. Once they had their toys, they could not touch any other toy. They had a 'specail spot' around the carpet that had houses, roads, and shops, where they played until dinner was ready. Now for my favorite part-
For dinner I wanted-
-no mess
-no jumping on chairs. (trust me, I've been there)
-no messy faces
-no messy shirts
and so on.
Now, you might think that this is impossible for a band of 11 or more kids, who just want to impress another with their food tricks. But there is where you would be wrong.
I came up with a VERY helpful tool for handling 11 or more kids, and I call it- "The list." It is a list of every kids name, with a 'B' and and 'G' beneath each one. The B means bad, and the G means good. The kids must earn good points by-
-having a good...no, wonderful attitude
-doing their chores without a small hint of complaining
- doing their chores fast and diligent
-not causing trouble...and the list could go on. And if they disobey any of this...well...then they sadly get a few bad points. (bad points gives them determination to get more good points to make up for the bad) Now for the ultimate motivation...If they rack up 20 points they get a small prize, with 30 they get a bigger prize, 40 they get an even bigger prize and so on. The kids took the points seriously. I told them if they got food or drink on their shirts they would get a bad point. So what did they do? They took their shirts off. Smart boys.
I also told them that if they got food on their faces then they would get a bad point. So what did they do? They made a hole in a napkin and tried eating through it. Ug! I thanked them for being so serious about not getting bad points...but this was a little too far. If they got just a little bit of food on them selves that would be okay. After all...they ARE boys. ;o)
Felicity helped by holding the munchkins while the younger kiddos ate.
Brooklyn was amazing! She could change a diaper, put kids in P.J.'s, and feed cranky babies bottles! She will be a very good mom some day.
Don't ask me why, but for some reason little kiddos get very emotional if they do not get the 'tiger' on their cup. It makes all the difference in the world if you get the right animal on your cup.
Before the kiddos snuggled up stairs to watch 'Prince of Persia' I had them all line up and I announced their scores. After each kiddos score was announced, everybody clapped for them, to make them feel really good about doing an excellent job on their chores and attitudes. Kids are like dogs. If you reward them for doing something good, no matter how small it really is, they will try their utmost to do it again and again, better and better. I try to keep this in mind and congratulate the kids often.
The kiddos really enjoy 'marching.' With this in mind, I lined them all up and had them march up stairs. Oh, and when I do this, NO body can be the leader...its always me, it always has been, and always will be. So don't ask. ;p
What good children! I have learned a lot about how to make an evening with the little noses army, enjoyable and fun. Thanks to the kids.
They were well rewarded for being out-standing and well behaved.
Thank you kiddos!!!
Love,
No comments:
Post a Comment