Houston we have lift off!

In my frustration last week over Ladybug's behaviors at school I emailed the teacher. I so never intended to be one of those mothers. I will not hover. I think the technical term is "helicopter mother." I do not want to be one. But I wanted to nip it all in the bud. I needed her to feel like school was a positive thing. I could not have her already hate school in kindergarten.

The teacher said she has a separate chart that she can use with kids who are having bigger issues with managing her behavior. She was not at the point that she was willing to bring it up to me but since I asked she was willing to try it. The good news is that Ladybug was not the first kid who was put on the chart. Instead of gaining one frog a day, her day is broken down into 11 different sections. The teacher checks in with Ladybug about her behavior 11 times a day. She must get 7 of 11 checks in order to get a sticker from the teacher.

In addition, I finally got my act together and created a chart at home too. If she passes the behavior test in school she can have computer time that night. Makes me want a second computer in the house. If she earns 2 stickers in a week she can have cartoons on Saturday morning. Okay, this one is really for me. I want to sleep later than 6:30 am on the weekends. If she gets 3 stickers in the week she can have cartoons on both Saturday and Sunday mornings. See previous comment. If she gets 4 stickers in a week she can have movie night (at home) on Friday. If she gets 5 stickers in a week -- I still need to figure that one out. She must also maintain a positive energy at home or it will negate her sticker from school.

So today was day 1. She earned her sticker. She was actually near perfect! She got 9 out of 10 (it was raining so no recess, so no 11th period of the day). 9 out of 10! She missed that last one because she kicked a classmate. Ooops. She admits it. But says it was an accident. I might be willing to believe this. She dances and twirls and never stays still. She also has recently turned into a klutzy child so I might be willing to believe that she was dancing around and accidentally kicked him. But 9 out of 10!

Happy mama!

Mean Mama