{"id":1332,"date":"2011-05-25T22:13:17","date_gmt":"2011-05-25T22:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mojitomother.com\/?p=1332"},"modified":"2013-08-30T00:35:13","modified_gmt":"2013-08-29T14:35:13","slug":"bribing-your-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mojitomother.com\/2011\/05\/bribing-your-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"If All Else Fails then Bribe Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes. We’ve all been there and said it before we became parents. “We’ll never bribe our children.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve said it before as a teacher too. I’ll never bribe them. I’m going to make them see why they have to do things and get them to do it purely based on motivation and good value<\/strong>s.<\/p>\n

Yeah right!!<\/p>\n

While I do attempt to do this, and a lot of the time I am successful, some of the time for the sake of my own sanity<\/strong> I have to resort to desperate measures. And those measures are<\/p>\n

Bribe, bribe away!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve really never been one for strict parenting <\/a>rules. The old “never let your children sleep in your bed with you” did not work for me.<\/p>\n

Whatever.<\/p>\n

I’m going to pull her in with me for night time cuddles if it means I will get some sleep<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I’m not going to waste precious rare sleeping hours patting her back, going insane with controlled crying, or pacing the floor<\/strong>. Besides in a few years time she won’t even want me near her, gotta get as many nightime cuddles as possible.<\/p>\n

Sometimes you gotta do whatever works.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Bribing<\/a>

Sleep time<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the past several months Kalyra has reverted back to baby state and won’t go to sleep unless you lie in bed with her. She’s gotten into bad habits created by us.<\/p>\n

I have been going slightly crazy, especially with the thought lingering over my head that in a few months time, I will have a newborn baby who will have no idea how to sleep. (Ahem, excuse me Caroline, this one will be born knowing. \u00a0You are manifesting it remember)<\/p>\n

I cannot have a newborn and a four year old needing me to help them sleep.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And so the retraining began. …<\/p>\n

Leaving the room, ignoring the crying, coming back to check on her every five minutes, chats about\u00a0needing\u00a0to be a big girl now and how I need her to help teach her little sister how to sleep, \u00a0pat on the back, teddy bear to cuddle, come back to crying, talks again of how mummy and daddy really need her help to be a big girl and sleep on her own, leave the room again, crying, wailing…<\/p>\n

I was being driven mad. All I could think about is the upcoming sleepless nights, and the mountain of work waiting for me to do during her sleep time. A sleeep that is taking hours to slip into.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After being stretched to the limit of nothing working, I resorted to the if-all-else-fails-then-bribe-away method.<\/p>\n

“Honey, we really need you to be a big girl for Mummy and Daddy and sleep on your own. You did a great job of this last night and we were so proud of you. If you can do it again, Mummy and Daddy are going to get you a special treat. You have to keep doing it every night though.”<\/em><\/p>\n

A slight nod of the head, her tears dried up, she hugged her little teddy and put on her determined brave face. I’m going to do this.<\/p>\n

I gave her a kiss, told her how much I loved her, walked out and after a bit of quiet play in her room she finally, quietly went to sleep on her own.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And I quietly prayed she would forget my promised bribe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the morning, I woke her up to get ready for our mummy daughter day at the ice-skating rink. I picked her up for a good morning cuddle and she said,<\/p>\n

“Mummy, after breakfast I’m gong to have my special treat. I want some ice-cream.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Excuse me, honey. What do you mean?”<\/p>\n

“Last night, you said to me, If I be a big girl and sleep on my own you would give me a special treat, <\/em>and I was a big girl and did sleep on my own.”<\/p>\n

Crap.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“You did and I am so proud of you! Look at what a big girl you are. But you have to do it every night and you can’t have ice cream this early in the morning. Mummy will get you a special treat after lunch. What about a colouring in book? Wouldn’t you like that more?”<\/p>\n

“No. I want ice-cream.”<\/p>\n

On the way to the station she exclaimed so proudly to her father,<\/p>\n

“Daddy, I am such a big girl. I am going to help teach my baby sister how to sleep.”<\/p>\n

Scoffs of laughter from Craig, “Are you darling? I’d like to see that one.”<\/p>\n

“Yes and you and \u00a0Mummy are going to give me special treats.”<\/p>\n

Crap<\/strong>. (Flashbacks to me telling Craig only a few days ago not to bribe her with treats at the shop if she would just stop rolling around the floor\u00a0screaming\u00a0and come for a walk with us.)<\/p>\n

Tonight, there was no crying or wailing. Kalyra grabbed her teddy for a cuddle, gave me the knowing nod after story time, let me give her a kiss and a cuddle and walk out of the room.<\/p>\n

There was no playing, no fuss and she went straight to sleep.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was heaven. I can’t wait for what special treat she’ll ask me for tomorrow.<\/p>\n

But, if I get a peaceful entry to sleep like this every night then I’ll buy her the whole goddamn ice cream shop.<\/p>\n

I don’t care. Whatever works.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m just hoping the special treat novelty will soon wear off and be forgotten about and I’ll be left with a big girl who can sleep on her own and teach her baby sister to do the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes. We’ve all been there and said it before we became parents. “We’ll never bribe our children.” I’ve said it before as a teacher too. I’ll never bribe them. I’m…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[200,178,173,201],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nParenting: If all else fails bribe away<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You say you'll never bribe your kids, but sometimes when all else fails you have to resort to bribing. 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