Bribery

As you know, Aubrey and Carson have been sharing a room with their new bunk beds for about two months now. A couple of weeks ago, Brian and I were at the end of our rope! We had really hoped once the kids and I got back into a school-year routine and a more normal sleeping schedule, that the "bedtime antics" would come to a stop. That did not happen however. They've been having a little too much fun in there after lights go off. Carson was still coming out anywhere from 3 to 8 times a night and Aubrey has definitely had her part in the shenanigans! Not to mention they weren't getting to sleep until 10:30 at night and so needless to say were quite cranky during the days. So, we have resorted to bribery! We figured we'd give this a try before we opted for child abuse (kidding.....mostly).
We sat them down, had a talk and explained that things were going to be changing. For every night that they stay in bed without coming out, turning on the light, or yelling for mom or dad, they would earn a smiley face on their job chart. Once they earn a smiley, they can trade it in for a reward (chosen from a list of preplanned items and activities). They were very excited about the idea of this. That night we reminded them what they were working together for and turned off the light. About 15 minutes later we hear Aubrey screaming, "No Boo, don't open the door! Boo, please don't go out, we'll lose our smiley face! Please Boo!" Slam, the door flies open and here's Carson. Aubrey starts bawling and Carson is laughing saying he needs to poop (which he doesn't). We tell them they can try again tomorrow night. I do think Carson did feel bad after seeing Aubrey so upset. A couple minutes later he came out again to tell us, "Aubrey told me to go sleep in the baby's room. She said she doesn't want me in here anymore!"
This happened for the next two night in a row. That little stinker Carson just wouldn't cooperate. So we decided to separate their rewards. They were now each working to earn their own smiley and whoever did, would get a reward. After one night of Aubrey earning her smiley and Carson not, he has quickly jumped on board. We're now up to earning two smiley faces for a reward. They have thoroughly enjoyed getting dessert out, a new toy from the store (that one was spendy!), making a Halloween cake together, lunch out at a restaurant, ice cream cones, etc. Brian and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting our evenings back!
I'm hoping to continue to stretch out the payoffs until no smileys will even be needed (I hope)! But I am very happy to report that the bribery is working like a charm!



Enjoying one of the rewards.....

These two are quite the pair!!