BRIBERY IS A GOOD THING

Today has been quite the day. Actually, ever since the kids got out of school for summer break we have had long day, after long day, after long day. All I hear is, "what are we doing today?" or "I am bored." or "there is nothing to do." I think they are still in the mindset of being at school, having a daily routine, and something to do each moment of the day. And it is already starting to wear on me.

I decided I could not handle any more of the chaos for the day and needed to calm the kids down in order to get them to have some "quiet time". Quiet time so that I could pick up the house, both inside and out after their many hours of playing. Quiet time so that I could clear my head and get ahold of my thoughts without someone yelling "Mom, Ava hit me!" Or "Mom, Anthony is not playing nice!" or "Mom, Lucas took my scooter!" Quiet time for the simple fact that without out it at that point, I thought I was going to have a temper tantrum remeniscent of the one's the kids have. And let me tell you, THAT would not be good.

And calm them down I did. How, you ask? With some good old fashioned bribery. (And no, I am not ashamed of bribing my kids from time to time.)

I explained to them if they sat quietly on the the couch after dinner, and watched a cartoon in it's entirety without fighting, yelling, whining, or anything of that nature, I would let them each do two sparklers. As they heard the word sparklers come out of my mouth they were all grinning from ear to ear and running to their couches in order to begin their half hour of uninterrupted quiet time. It was then that I knew this bribe was going to work.

The kids had a great time with their sparklers,

Anthony even managed to have a great time after grabbing his sparkler from the wrong end out of Lucas' hand and burning his finger.

Lucas finished off the very last sparkler of the night by being goofy and waving it in front of his face. (Lucky he did not burn himself too....)

So it turned out to be a win, win in the Shelton house tonight. Mom got her much, much needed quiet time from the kids, and the kids were able to have some fun with their sparklers.

See? Bribery can be a good thing.