Trista has recently started a feature on her blog called Mom2Mom Tips. Her first post was about rewarding your children inexpensively. One of her suggestions was to give high fives. I started using that with Emma this weekend and it has been great. On Sunday we were invited to go to the swimming club that our friends have joined. Emma and I get together with Charlie and his family as often as we can. There is a kiddie pool as well as an adult pool at this club. When we ventured into the adult pool with the kids, Becci and I kept moving closer and closer to the 5 foot area. Charlie normally wouldn’t go that far, but he didn’t complain with Emma around. As a joke, I asked Emma if she wanted to jump off the diving board. She said that she did. If I’d been able to stay in the deep end while others were diving, I believe that she would have done it. When she walked back along the edge of the pool back to where I was, I urged her to jump in to me. When she did – without acting afraid and without holding my hands first, I gave her a high five. She couldn’t get enough of jumping. Each time I moved further away and each time she got the biggest smile on her face as she jumped to me. When she got water in her mouth, I always gave her a high five afterwards. At one point, Emma and Charlie decided to jump to us at the same time. Charlie jumped first and Emma hesitated instead of just jumping. She fell into the pool before I could get to her and she went all the way under. I grabbed her up quickly, but I was anticipating a bad reaction. What did Emma do? She wiped her face off and asked to jump again. I gave her another high five. She was so proud of that.
This morning, I handed her a pair of socks when we arrived at daycare and asked her to put them on (if I put the girls’ socks and shoes on at home they would take them off anyway so I don’t bother anymore). Sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn’t. This morning she put them right on. I reached over to give her a high five and she missed. We laughed and laughed. I went back to putting Ally’s socks and shoes on and Emma asked to try the high five again. She didn’t want to miss out. This time I leaned over further and we got it right.
I never would have thought that something as simple as a high five could make Emma so happy. Right now it’s really working as a reward for her. Thanks for the suggestion, Trista!
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3 comments:
Sometimes it's hard to remember that even the slightest accomplishment that we take for granted just needs to be recognized. That's all they really want: our attention and approval.
Sorry to hear about S. I will say a special prayer for her.
ok, I am going to have to try that trick too...thanks for the examples! I love you...and thanks for your last comment, that was really sweet!
I'm glad one of my tips worked for you! I can't believe how much praise I can give my kids with a simple gesture like a high five. It's cool that Emma wanted to come back to give a proper high five at the end!
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