_______Incentives

We've been trying to break Isaac of a bad habit, similar to thumb-sucking, since he turned one.  I've tried just about every suggestion offered to me with no avail...until now.

Isaac is on day 6 of breaking the habit.  Although I tried an incentive plan just after his fourth birthday, he decided the habit was just not worth giving up.  This time, I upped the stakes and to my surprise, it seems to be working!  Just to kick-start our new habit-free program, we went to the dollar store and I let him pick out a week's worth of prizes.  He gets one every day that he remains habit-free. Then I came up with a long term goal (for when the week is up and the prizes are out).  Now that he has proven he can survive without his beloved comfort habit, I told him that if he makes it 30 days, he can pick out a pack of Legos.

Well, my son, the Lego enthusiast, has had his sights set on the Endor Battle set of Legos since his fourth birthday.  That's the one he wants.


But it costs $99!  So, I told him that we would have to have a budget for his Lego prize.  The industrious boy counter-offered: "If I make it to NINETY days can I have the Endor Battle set?"  Hmmm, it's a huge amount to pay for an "incentive."  On the other hand, if he makes it to the end of ninety days, he will be learning a great lesson in delayed gratification and passing on a smaller pleasure to hold out for something even better.  So, we agreed.

Then, at Mimi's suggestion, we created this ninety-link paper chain to begin the daily count down.

I'm not sure if he'll make it to ninety days.  He may relent and chose the smaller Lego set once he gets to the end of the first thirty days.  But, either way, here's to hoping this is the end of the bad habit for good!