What's working for us (right now)

[dziner]

I've been meaning to start this thread for a long time; let's see if anyone will be interested!

I thought this would be a good place to share tricks that are helping with everyday challenges.

Getting dressed: My 4 yo DD requires some creative cajoling to get her dressed. Lately I've been pulling out every noisy toy we have for "getting dressed" games (and this includes pjs). For example, the kids have to take off or put on one piece of clothing every time I press a button, and then they get to do a "naked dance" as well.

Healthy snacks: I find that if I offer the kids things like raisins, nuts or cereal they'll turn them down in favor of junkier fare, but if I set out a mix in a bowl wherever they are playing they will excitedly gobble it up. I've been doing roasted almonds, dried apricots, raisins or craisins, pepitas, and Cheerios lately and they love it.

[Renrel]

DS sometimes tell me his is too tired to climb the stairs himself. I have started throwing down an imaginary rope to lasso him and miming pulling him up. Suprisingly this has worked wonderfully, to the point of him telling me to throw him down a rope to pull him up. It takes longer than if he would just walk up the stairs but is better than either carrying him or arguing with him about it.

DS will eat virtually no green vegis but he will drink green juice.

DS got a toy teaching clock for chanuka. It will tell him the correct time if he pushes a button. I have started telling him what time nap is over and writing down what it looks like on a piece of paper. This had cut down significantly on his coming out of his room to ask if nap time is over.

[littlebear]

DS has been telling me that he doesn't need to go to the potty when clearly he does. He just doesn't want to interrupt his playing to make the trip to the bathroom. We have been 'ice skating' down the hall to go to the potty. We have hardwood floors so ice skating involves him sliding down the hall in his socks while I hold his hands. Now he's always asking me if we can go ice skating to the potty.

[Candy]

DD also holds out on going potty when she clearly has to go. Recently, I tell her that I have no more clean panties which actually happened a few weeks ago.
She is actually argueing less often about going potty. ;)

[dziner]

Keep em coming!

My kids always clamor for dessert and I must confess we are big sweet eaters. Recently we've gotten into using the Treat Jar, which is filled with small sweets: Reeses miniatures we brought home from Hershey Chocolate World, chocolate hearts the kids got for Valentines Day, Starbursts from a birthday party pinata. They get very excited to choose something after eating a good meal and yet it really is a small treat so I don't feel guilty about it.

[Orange]

For pretty much anything: We do races or contests. Who can get dressed the fastest? Who can eat a bite of broccoli first? It even works sometimes for cleaning up toys - our biggest challenge.

[shortcake]

Good thread! (Hi dziner! I remember you from when our 4 year olds were born!)

I have a super picky eater. I've found I can get her to eat raw veggies, sometimes, by pretending we are the kind of animals that eat them. I also use flat out bribery (dessert) because it turns out that no, my child is not actually full after two bites even though she insists she is.

I like the tricks for going potty. We have the same resistance, so I will try to think of something clever! (We don't have hardwoods or the ice skating would be awesome).

[Sarah]

I always give my kids veggies to snack on while I am making dinner, and they are starving. They usually happily eat carrots, sliced bell peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes (grape or cherry), cauliflower, or cucumbers this way. Sometimes I give them hummous or LF dressing to dip them in, and then I don't have to argue about veggies with dinner. They still eat their dinner portion of veggies, but I don't stress if they don't eat a ton of them.

[kristin]

My kids do not wear their winter jackets unless we are playing outside/at the park. I always bring them in the car just in case, but my 2 yo and 4 yo usually refuse to wear them. And since we are just running in and out of school, the supermarket, the library, etc, it's never really more than 3 minutes.

It's a huge saving of time - it would take me at least 10 minutes to get my little octopus in her jacket! Sure, I get a few odd looks in the parking lot, but no one has gotten pneumonia yet ;)!

[dziner]

Here's one for my toddler: lately he really resists having his diaper changed or doing anything I want him to do on his own, like taking off his shoes in the house, unzipping his pjs to get dressed, etc. I find if I jokingly say, "Don't do it!" he'll laugh and get right to it. Only way I can get the kid to lie down. :)

[bluebunny]

Would love more suggestions on getting my kid to potty when he obviously needs to go but doesn't want to stop what he is doing. Actually, my solution when he's playing outside is to go on a bush. ;) I suggested it ONCE when it was obvious he couldn't make it inside and he loved it! He will happily stop what he's doing to go "potty" on a bush but this doesn't work inside. :rolleyes: (Oh and this is our backyard, btw.)

I can't think of anything good right now but I wish the cut-up veggies before dinner would work at my house!

[Tray85]

I was having trouble getting my DD (2 3/4) to clean up her messes. I now say that the items will get put up high and out of reach if she doesn't clean them up in 1, 2, 3...and she runs over and "saves" them by cleaning up. Of course she gets lots of praise for cleaning up after that.

I've also been getting her to take bites of her dinner by pretending to be animals. I'll say "oh no dinosaur, don't eat that bite!" and of course she'll eat it. One day, I hope to have to be less interactive at dinner, but for now - its working. :)

[dziner]

Okay, I have three new ones.

1. Fizzies
My kids LOVE juice and lemonade but I don't keep much in the house so they rarely have it. With the summer heat, I have been making fizzies...about 2 oz juice or lemonade with about 3 oz seltzer. They suck them down and I know they are hydrated without so much sugar. So far white grape fizzies, lemon fizzies and even orange fizzies have been a big hit.

2. Washing up in the tub
I have always gotten big resistance to my washing them in the tub (I bathe my 2.5 and 4.5 year old together). If I give them each a soapy washcloth and play Simon Says, washing various body parts, they wholeheartedly do it. I have each wash the other's back and they think that's a riot. DD also thinks it's funny if I tell them to wash their cheeks...and then their OTHER cheeks. ;)

3. Mealtime
I have to credit a local kids' entertainer, The Great Zucchini, for this one. At meals if they are being pokey with eating, I'll say, Whatever you do, don't eat your ____. They instantly gobble it up and think it's hysterical. I keep going on with that and make them laugh by saying stuff like, Don't eat that chicken...I am planning to make a special chicken sculpture for the living room. If I have the energy, it totally works.

[dziner]

And another.

Today I mixed vanilla yogurt with fresh chopped cherries and spooned it into popsicle molds. Kids had them after dinner tonight and proclaimed them to be the "best popsicles we ever had." Hey, much better for them than a cookie!!

[Renrel]

To clean DS ears I pretend I see someone in each ear, a story or tv charater he would know an then I have to convince the character to come out. DS loves this game and urges me to play it.

We played the simon says bath game last night which was recommended by dizner, worked a little two well, DS did not want to stop playing.

Not much of a "trick" but I have found that DS is responding really well to when I take time to note things he seems to be going to get my approval - like changing a behavor that got him in alot of trouble and which caused a "talk" about why the behavior is pushing my buttons. I can see in his face that he feel proud or happy that his behavior was noticed and that he is very likely to share some of his thoughts or feeling with me at these times they he does not want to talk about at other times.

Teasing DS that he is not allowed to read because he is way to young is encouraging him to read more.