Months ago, I developed a Rewards and Consequences chart that detailed all the tasks that my daughter was to complete and the rewards and consequences that would happen if she completed or did not complete a task.
My daughter knows all the tasks she must do in the morning but still must be reminded. After weeks of repeating “did you brush your teeth? clear the table, put your shoes on,” all in succession, the lightbulb finally went off that my daughter can not be told to do more than one task at a time.
How did I come to this realization, she told me. “I can only do one thing at time, I am brushing my teeth. I can’t put my shoes on and brush my teeth at the same time,” she yelled from the bathroom one morning. Duh, really!!!
So now I only ask her to do one task at a time. Does she do it? Eventually. Now I just have to stop reminding her ten times to do the one task.
Patience is not a virtue, it’s Sisyphus condemned to forever pushing the boulder up the mountain only to have it roll down the mountain. It never ends.
And kids seem to have that selective hearing trait where they only hear the fun stuff; “let’s go the park, do you want some ice cream?” but never seem hear the mundane like “clean up your room, brush your teeth, turn off the iPhone.”
LOL! That comment made me crack up, "I can only do one thing at time…" I hate to admit it but as a kid I sometimes "forgot" stuff like the chores. That became my thing when I was reminded of something…"i forgot" I did grow out of it.
Though sometimes I use it selectively! 🙂