I am The Champion, My Friends!

This morning was a huge success for getting my elementary school kiddos up. When I went in to wake them I just said, "Good morning! Time to get up. And today you will get a prize if you get up like a good boy!" and then I walked away.

They both made it out of their rooms, to the bathroom, got their stuff together, and I didn't have one second of trouble out of either of them. Awesome!

They were both delighted with the teeny-weeny Hershey bars that they stuck in their pockets to enjoy with their lunch. What a bargain!

I always love it when I can find conflict-free ways to get my kids on the straight-and-narrow. It's not that I fear conflict or am afraid to discipline them. It's just that there are certain things that I think should not have conflict attached to them. To me, bedtime, getting your day started, and meal times should all be nurturing and peaceful. I want those memories to be good ones for my kids, so I do what I can to set those times up to be as positive as realistically possible. Obviously it isn't always realistic to avoid conflict, but with creative thinking and advance planning it can go fairly well.