We had so much fun yesterday and all it cost was a little gasoline for the drive to a friends house. We spent the morning outside playing in the snow (yeah in Wisconsin that Spring thing hasn't quite gotten here yet) and then we went to a friends and played games all afternoon. The 2 and 3 year olds napped so we could concentrate on the gaming. The boys had a blast with the other 4 boys that were there. Then when we came home we watched a couple episodes of the rifleman on DVD. It was fun and the show has a good message. On one of them the father told the story of Job from the Bible.
We have started a ticket brigade. When you do certain things you earn tickets. It is a more visible reward system for the kids than allowance day once a week for a 3 and 2 year old. The 4 year olds love it too. It is amazing how fast a 3 year old in a screaming fit can calm down when all I say is "do you want to lose a ticket?" WOW. At the end of the week they get to spend tickets on prizes I pick up at the dollar store or computer time. I do believe in good behavior being its own reward but when they are that close in age you need a little more ammo! I wonder how the pioneers did it! You also earn tickets by answering questions pertaining to hard stuff like electricity or adding, depends on what we learned that day in school and on what you are having a problem retaining! Questions are asked at meals when I have a captive audience and since I have a couple of finicky eaters (unless a growth spurt is looming) it makes them eat up cause no food gone means no question and that means no ticket! I realize this is way too lenient to some but it works for us. I like seeing the kids try to help each other without answering (cause that would lose a ticket too) and learning to accept a time out gracefully (cause screaming is a big ticket loser at our house.)