Who knew bribery would come so easy to us as parents?
As we've been trying to complete potty training before Vincent starts preschool next month, our tactic has been, "If you do poopies in the potty all week, we'll get some new Disney guys this weekend." Result - poop in potty.
Even last night, when Vincent was having some trouble going to sleep (read: "DAAADDEEE! COME. UP. HERE!"), out of desperation, I said "Vincent - remember. If we start to sleep like a big boy again in our room, we'll get your new Disney guys this weekend." That's right - I used the same dangling carrot for two separate bribes. It didn't work for sleep, though. He caught on.
It just feels wrong. Still, it's not like we're buying him a car or letting him have a shopping spree. It's Disney figures - his favorite thing ever and it's for doing something important - pooping.
Can you tell I'm wrestling with this?
P.S.: All but one set of figures in this photo were purchased by either Mom-Mom or Aunt Maria.
1 comment:
Bribery rules.
I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but as we've gradually become practitioners of the "by any means necessary" method of parenting (also known as "survival"), bribery has become one of our primary persuasion techniques.
When my youngest son turned three, we offered him this deal: poop in the potty, and we buy an ice cream cake to celebrate. It was about a week (during which time, we coined the phrase "poop cake" to describe his forthcoming reward for successfully using the potty), before he finally did the deed.
In the spirit of the occasion, I had the girl at the Carvel ice cream store print "POOP" in chocolate icing on the cake. (Classy, I know.)
The only real downside was that it created the expectation of an ice cream cake with each subsequent poop-making event.
I'm proud to say that our soon-to-be-four-year-old now regularly poops in the potty. Except when he doesn't.
Poop, poop, poop.
Al Houser
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