Thank You, Dr. Kazdin

Awhile back, we noticed that Charlie needed a bit of tightening up in the attitude/behavior realm. She wasn't being bad, she just wasn't doing what she needed to do. We had a lot of pokiness in getting ready for school, ready for meals, ready for bed, etc. Pleases and thank yous were being forgotten, and we weren't always liking how Charlie directed requests to Chris and I.

Chris did some reading (Chris always does the parenting reading - I ride his coattails), and found the Dr. Kazdin method for parenting the defiant child (calling Charlie defiant is not quite accurate, but still). He instituted a point system and a group of behaviors that if done correctly would garner Charlie points. Well, it worked like gangbusters. In a matter of just a few days, Charlie had lost her laziness and was racking up the points. The ultimate prize for earning 500 points was a trip to see The Blue Man Group with Chris and me. [Side note, we are done doing the point system, but we hold it as an option in our back pocket for future issues - it worked really, really well for Charlie.]

This is a long way of saying that amidst a weekend of super fun things (two festivals, bike riding, neighborhood garden walk, lemonade stand), we went to see The Blue Man Group. And it was crazy fun. We three loved it. And, even better, Chris was pulled from the audience as a volunteer for one of the skits - the one where they use a body to make a giant painting. Getting to see him pulled up on stage, put into a suit and motorcycle helmet, and projected on a giant screen made the experience that much more fun. And, he got a little paint on the face as a souvenir, which he shared with Charlie.

Thank you, Dr. Kazdin - we would never have gotten there without you.