Chore Chart

Laura's biggest challenge in life is listening.  We ask her to do something.  She doesn't. We warn her about making choices.  She ignores us.  We follow-through with a threatened punishment, and all of a sudden she loses it and can't believe this is happening to her.

And last night, after a really bad trip to the grocery store, she said it.

I hate you, Mommy.  I hate everything and I hate you.

That went straight to my heart like a dagger.  It stung me to silence.

Laura, I get angry with you sometimes, but I always love you.  Always.  Right this minute, I am hurt and angry... but I still love you.

Needless to say, Laura did not get a star in the "listening" box of her chore chart.  The chore chart - a strategy we enacted Sunday evening after a really bad day of listening.  Yesterday was her first day, so I wasn't expecting her to really understand earning the stars for her chart... but I was still pretty sad with how poorly her listening was.

We're just trying out the chore chart for now.  Experimenting to see how it works.  I have a chalkboard in the hall, so right now it has a grid on it with each day of the week, and the four chores she is expected to do each day:

Listen
Eat
Feed Ries
Tidy

Yesterday, she got three stars.  At the end of the week, we'll review the chart to see if she earned a DVD of "The Princess and the Frog," which is currently balanced on top of the chalkboard as incentive.  We'll see how it goes.  If we have success, I might be in the market for something more permanent.  If not... I'm not sure what to do.