Reward Chart

I remember meeting with the pediatrician over the summer when Jake had a string of ear infections, and we got to talking about Jake's behavior regarding his sibling jealousy/rivalry. Long story short, he said "it looks like the 3's are going to be worse for Jake than the 2's." I thought "no way." Wrong. The 2's were a cinch compared to the 3's...so far.

The 3's have been a nightmare for us. Jake has always been (in my opinion) very mellow, shy, quiet, kind, caring, pretty well-mannered, well behaved, etc...in a matter of weeks, that all changed. Almost a month after turning 3, Jake started throwing terrible temper tantrums, started talking back, began throwing stuff when he got mad, started hitting us, and just going into all out rages when he got mad or got in trouble. I don't know what the stressor was- the tonsillectomy, Tyson being home more consistently, me working more consistently, something with Walker, or just his age, but Tyson and I were at wit's end with it.

Tyson and I tried every sort of discipline imaginable, but nothing was working. One day, I was talking with Miss Brittany, Jake's teacher whom we adore, and I told her about all of our problems with Jake and asked what she thought. And she so brilliantly said, "Jake thrives off of praise." Duh. Why haven't I thought of that? So the next day I went to the Parent Teacher Store and bought this reward chart.

I researched behavior charts online and came up with this one- Jake gets rewarded for brushing his teeth, getting dressed, and taking a bath...those are the ones that are a given. His goals are to not yell out at naptime or nighttime and obviously not throwing temper tantrums. He's yet to get every sticker in a category in a day, but he still gets rewarded for getting 5 or better out of the 8. We've been doing this for about 2 weeks now, and I think things are a little better.

So anyway, there you have it...Jake's reward chart. I pray this works! ;)