Sticking with Good Habits

Mrs Hunt (or the lovely Mrs Hunt, as she should be known) has a fabulous way of motivating Maia - stickers.

Maia gets a sticker when she is a good girl. She gets one when she plays outside without complaint, or goes to the loo at toilet time without crying. Mrs Hunt has a variety of stickers, ranging from gold and silver stars, to the characters from Finding Nemo.

I was a little worried that Maia might be monopolising the stickers and using up more than her fair share, so this morning I asked Mrs Hunt if I should bring in a packet or two to make sure that they didn't run out...Thinking about it now, I imagine it might come across as a bit of an odd thing to do. A bit like someone going to their lawyers and offering to buy them some ink cartridges as they seem to write lot of letters.

I can see now that stickers are a tool of the trade, not something exclusive and special to Maia. I suppose this is what comes of not having many other parent friends - not too hot on spotting what is exclusive to her, and what is a universal experience. Ho hum.

Anyway, I am wondering whether to introduce the Sticker Motivational Method at home. Thing is, I don't want to dilute their effectiveness. I think for the moment, we will just stick with the jellybeans.