Bribery

So, I did it. I resorted to bribing my 3 year old daughter. I've discovered over the last few years that some things are worth the battle and some things aren't. Getting a good night's sleep at night is totally worth the battle. Around September, when Abbott was born, L stopped sleeping through the night. It was horrendous. Not only were we up 3 or 4 times a night with a newborn, we were also up 2 or 3 times a night with our toddler. We were exhausted. As the months went on, Abbott adjusted to sleeping through the night. Laurelei, however, did not. So, after pulling out all other stops, we pulled out the toys. And the toys? They worked. Woo hoo!

It isn't as bad as it sounds. My first course of action was to stock up on small surprises for each morning for the first 5 days. I hit up Target's dollar section and found some little nonsense things that I knew our girl would be excited about. Dora socks, a necklace, Lip Smackers, etc. I dug a small gift bag out of my stash, put the surprise in it, tied it with a cute pink ribbon and placed it proudly on her dresser each night. We explained to L that if, and only if, she stayed in her bed until the SUN CAME UP, she could open her present in the morning. It worked like a charm. The first night she woke up once and yelled for a tissue. The second night she needed to be covered up. The third night? Not a peep. It was beautiful. There have been less tears at night all around.

I know what you are thinking. Of course I couldn't go on giving my child a present every single morning for just sleeping through the night. So, on Friday night we explained Laurelei's new sticker chart to her. If she slept through the night, she got a sticker. If she got a sticker on Friday and Saturday night, we'd take her to Target to pick out her own dollar section toy. She loved the idea of shopping for her own present of course. She is my daughter after all. After Sunday's outing, we have been making her collect a sticker each week night. If she gets all 6 stickers, we'll take her to Target again on Sunday.We intend to turn 6 days into 14 days into a month for as long as it takes to create a habit. For less than $10.00, we finally have solved the problem.

So why? Why didn't we just start with the sticker chart? Well, it just wasn't concrete enough for L. I am sure it works for 3 year olds the world over, but for ours it didn't. I just knew that L would respond better to an instant reward. Now that she understands in a more concrete way what she is earning, she is more invested in the process.

Part of me feels a little ashamed that I truly just bribed my child to sleep through the night. The other part of me is just happy to get some sleep. I think the happier part of me is the one who gets to sleep. :)