Parenting Style

We had a birth mother ask us once (before we got Bridget) how we would discipline our children. She had several scenarios for us, too. I still think it depends on the kid - what works on one will not work on another. For the most part, Brian and I agree that rewarding good behavior, following through with what we say we're going to do (which keeps us from saying crazy stuff like, "If you don't stop screaming we're going to drop you off right here!"), and time outs are our "style."

Bridget has never been a good sleeper. She was done with her crib before she was a year old. We tried to be tough and let her cry until she fell asleep in her crib, but after four nights in a row of it taking her more than two hours to fall asleep (screaming the whole time), we had to try something else. Fast forward to a couple of months ago. Bridget was sick and waking up crying for Mommy or Daddy so often that we finally took turns sleeping in our bed with her while the other one slept in the guest room. When Bridget was well again, she started coming into our room expecting an invite to sleep in our bed. Not so much. (I don't know how, but she takes up the whole bed by slowly turning clockwise on her belly until her feet are right by someone's stomach. Then she proceeds to kick until that stomach is away from her. Boooo.) So we'd take her back to her room... sometimes four to five times in one night. Bah!

A month ago I took Bridget to a craft store with me and we picked out several "princess" stickers (she's totally obsessed with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Belle right now). We came home and made a poster with six weeks worth of boxes for stickers. Every night that Bridget stays in her bed the whole night and doesn't ask for Mommy or Daddy to stay in her room with her after going potty, she gets to put a princess sticker in a box on the poster. When she fills her poster with stickers, she gets to go to see the princesses (Disneyland). See, we were going to Disneyland this year anyway, but now Bridget gets to earn the trip. She's only missed a few nights and she's almost halfway there (almost three weeks). She gets so excited about choosing her sticker and she talks about meeting the princesses when she fills up the boxes.

We're lucky - Bridget "gets" this kind of discipline. Hopefully the next child will respond to it too!