The Blocks That Changed Our Lives

I have to admit that I have been having a lot of trouble with Austen lately.  He has not been his sweet normal self for a couple of weeks now and it was really starting to get me down.  It made me question everything from my parenting abilities to my child's innate naughtiness.  I cried many times thinking that we were raising a spoiled brat and not knowing what to do to turn it around.  It was so confusing because normally Austen while curious, independent, and determined, was actually really sweet and sensitive.  Then, not knowing my situation with Austen, my sister in law told me about her new discipline system and how to implement it.  I started doing it the next day and it totally changed Austen's crazy behavior.  Since then, we only have about one meltdown a day compared to a meltdown all day everyday.  Also, he hasn't thrown a fit in a store since then, so that has been nice.

So here is what we do.....there are two colors of blocks.  Blue for bad choices and yellow for good ones.  He gets to put them in the jar and then at the end of the day we ask the jar if we can go get a treat....if we get a yellow one back, we go get a snow cone or ice cream or something, but if we get a blue one, then the answer is no and we can't go.  Also, I bought this really awesome rescue hero's firetruck that he can earn by getting no blue blocks for a whole week.

He has really taken to this new system and it also gives him a visual reminder to make good choices.  It is also helping him take responsibility for his actions.  So far we are LOVING it!