Being Kind

For a while now, we have had a problem with Brady being nice, particularly to my grandparents, his great grandparents. I am fortunate to have 2 living grandmothers, 1 living grandfather, and a bonus living grandfather(my grandmother remarried after her husband passed). They are all crazy about the great grand kids. It is such a blessing to for Brady and Presley to have so many great grandparents living and in good enough health to have a relationship. However, Brady is not always nice and friendly to them. That is really all they want from him, a hug, kiss, and some attention. Of course it was worse when Brady was tired, hungry, or trying to play, but that is not an excuse to be unkind to anyone. Ever. Period. (With this I have tried to make sure I am living the kindness I expect from my children. I am not perfect. Raising children reminds me of that every day!)

So, Brady and I came up with a plan. We made a "Nice Chart" and some ground rules. Caleb and I would be on the watch for acts of kindness by Brady and each act of kindness earned a sticker. We set a goal of 20 stickers and then a prize of picking out a toy at Toys-R-Us. It took Brady a couple days to really comprehend the deal, but once he did he had an amazing transformation. Along with each sticker, we wrote down what he did that was nice and talked about why it was nice. He began requesting to give the great-grandparents a hug instead of the other way around. He also doesn't expect a reward, it has just become more of habit. This has been very helpful in communicating exactly which acts are nice and which are not. We tried to keep it all very positive and not focus on the unkind moments, but the kind moments.

He finally put his 20th sticker on his chart and today we took our special outing. I let him pick where he wanted lunch and then we went to Toys-R-Us for his prize.

He chose Chic-fil-A which worked out perfectly because it was really hot today and he got to burn some energy in the play place. While we were eating, he looked up at me with his big blue eyes and said, "Thank you Mommy!"

He decided he had played enough and was ready to go so we headed to Toys-R-Us. Brady was so funny shopping for his toy. He took it very serious and wanted to be sure to make the best decision. This is what he finally settled on.

We made a quick trip to Wal-mart and then came home for a nap. Little Presley slept the entire time we were out! So nice!

Here is my sweet girl today! She loves her play mat!

 Note: I stole the chart idea from a friend of mine. I wish I would have thought of it on my own. It really does take a village.