Marbles

Lately M has been quite the handful. There isn't a day/night that we don't get into a screaming match with her. It's just awful. She recently decided that she hates all of her clothes. However, she also hates being naked. That's made getting dressed in the morning and pajamas at night a definite handful. We've tried picking stuff out for her, letting her pick, buying new clothes and threatening her. Nothing worked. So on Tuesday night we started the "Marble Jar System" in our house. We have a "happy" or "good" jar with a smiley face on it and a "sad" or "bad" jar with a sad face on it. When she does something good or follows the rules, we put a marble in the good jar. However, when she does something bad we take the good marble out and put it in the bad jar. Once she fills the good jar she will earn a trip to Applebees (her choice and favorite restaurant). If she fills the bad jar, she loses something she cares a lot about (probably her TV privileges).

I have to say, we're only a day and a half into this system and she's a totally different kid. We've only had one bad marble moment which resulted in a time out. That was at bed time last night over pajamas. That's probably been our worst time with her. It's 3.5 year old normal drama + tiredness that is just an awful combination at that time of the day.

We have the jars at my parents' place as well and she earned 6 marbles there today and they said she was an absolute doll. So cross your fingers that she continues on this great stride for us!