source: vernhart

I bribe my children.

There, I admitted it.

We recently made our third attempt to put the two big girls in the same bedroom – their bedroom.

The first two times didn’t go so well.

The first time, Pumpkin Doodle was so anxious to get to her baby sister that she learned to climb out of her crib for that sole purpose. I’m a lazy mom, and my response was to wisk said baby right out of there and back into the guest room.

The second time, when we first moved here in August of ‘07, Pumpkin Doodle decided that her baby sister (then a toddler) should have blankets piled on top of her while she slept. During a heat wave. In a house without air conditioning. I heard a choking cough, ran upstairs and found a very dazed Monkey Doodle trying desperately to claw her way out of all those blankets.

Yeah. She moved into the new guest room.

Unfortunately, in a three-bedroom house, with Sweet Doodle currently sleeping in a converted nursery that is just off the main area of the house and doesn’t have a door, and with a new baby on the way, it was time to try again. This time, since they’re now 4.5 and 3 years old, I decided it was going to work. Part of my plan included playing a story on tape to help them unwind at bedtime, and I planned to spend the first week sitting on the floor in the hallway reminding them to be quiet and stay in bed.

Amazingly, the move went surprisingly well this time.

However, as they began to get more comfortable with the new arrangement, they also began to test the stay-in-bed-and-be-quiet rule. Despite being disciplined night after night for breaking it, they continued to get rowdy at bedtime.

So I switched tactics.

I told them they could each have a treat in the morning if they went to bed quietly without getting out of bed or getting loud.

I told you I was a lazy mom.

The first night – no surprise – they got loud and rowdy anyway. I calmly tucked them back in their beds and told them they had unfortunately lost their treats. The next morning, when they asked about that elusive treat, I sadly shook my head and reminded them that they had lost it.

Then, a funny thing happened. That night, they asked if they could have a treat if they went to bed quietly, and I told them they absolutely could, but the choice was theirs.

Not a peep was heard.

The next morning they came down to find two tiny M&Ms sitting on the edge of the counter, and they were so excited about their treat.

Ten days later, the promise of that M&M has been enough for them to settle right down and stay quietly in their beds at bedtime almost every night. Sometimes they forget to ask for it when they come down, and like most of our bribes (which makes it sound like I bribe them more than I do!), I’m confident it will naturally fade away over time.

Some may call it bribery. Some may call it laziness.

I’m just happy that the fight is over!