November 4
Today I am especially grateful for a teacher who saw a need in my son and met it. Apparently his impulse control isn't what it could be, despite having fairly strict parents and having already been through years of preschool and a year of kindergarten. He was regularly getting in trouble at school for talking out of turn, distracting other students, and being a bit too hands-on with his friends. We're a physical family, so I understand part of that, but where he got the idea that pushing a good friend's head into the drinking fountain was funny is beyond me.
So Mrs. B instituted a behavior chart. There are five specific areas where he can act out and get a check mark for it, and if he gets five marks in one day, it's an automatic parent/teacher conference. The chart comes home with him every day, and so that he'd understand our influence and authority extends all the way to school, he has specific consequences for each mark, and specific consequences for no marks (he usually picks Wii time). A mark-free week has yet to happen, but we're close, and I'm thinking a small Lego may be in order to show him that we really value his good behavior. It's also dangerously close to a bribe, but it just so clearly illustrates that good comes from good, so maybe I don't care!
Having a teacher on it enough to give him a warning and a simple mark makes things easier for her, I'm sure. It shows him exactly what he was doing that was not okay, and it gives him things to work towards (she's a fan of special stickers for good behavior). Rob and I can encourage him to obey in more specific ways, and I know what's going on when he's out of my range of vision.
And the best part (to me, at least)? I just heard from Margie, big Blake's mom, that HE had a behavior chart too, and once he realized that disobedience at school was known about at home, he whipped it together right quick. I love knowing that about the child, because the man was so stinkin' self-disciplined that it almost wasn't real!
3 comments:
That is awesome, Addie. So thankful for good teachers! It makes ALL the difference.
Love this post!
Sometimes I want to shove people's heads into water fountains but, they are never handy when I need one!
I am glad that a behavior chart can be used and effective as opposed to jumping straight to medication. I think that the energetic, wiley ones can be the most creative and innovative when left unstifled. Go ahead and indulge in some lego-bribery :)
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