My youngest son, who will be four years old in August, has shown no interest in potty training or doing anything that a four year old should know how to do. He explains that he does not want to be a big boy, he wants to stay little. Usually I apply lessons learned at home to managing my employees, but in this case a program I developed for my employees is being used at home.At Bisson Barcelona, we implemented the Star Reward Program. I created this program last year as a way for employees to reward their peers for going above and beyond. This program greatly increased team work. Each employee is issued star certificates, which can be awarded to their fellow co-workers when they feel that person has helped them in a positive way. Once an employee collects five star certificates, they can turn them in to me and pick a prize from the star jar. Prizes include scratch tickets, gas cards, Dunkin Donut gift cards, a coupon to sleep in one-hour late or leave one-hour early and a coupon to wear jeans on a non-jean day.
So I decided to try a similar technique with my son. Today, we created a big boy chart. Every time he does something that a big boy should do, he will earn a sticker for his chart. Once he earns 20 stickers, he can turn in his chart for a prize. Big boy activities we agreed upon include putting on his shoes, getting undressed, getting dressed, clearing his plate after he eats, and of course...using the potty. He earned his first two stickers today for putting on his shoes twice. He was very excited to earn the stickers, and he has decided that his prize will be a new baseball hat (with animals on it per his request).
I would love to hear suggestions from other moms on methods they have used to encourage their children to become big boys. Wish me luck!
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