Charts, oh charts…they are one of our favorite things here in the Tschikof household. I can explain/accomplish anything to Jaxon if I make a chart! I’m not sure if this works as well in other homes, but thank goodness for charts! We have been having the worst time getting Jaxon to go to sleep/stay asleep in his own room since we got back from our summer trip to Colorado. He has decided that his room is “evil” and there are “zombies” and “monsters” living in there and he can’t sleep there…#sendforreinforcementsplease
My husband had a plan…”Jaxon, if you don’t like your pirate room, we can redecorate it, what would you like”…um, NO…we spent way too much money on his room to change it now, he is just using that as an excuse to sleep with us. Needless to say,
Jaxon was back in bed with us that night. Coincidently, I saw the picture below on Facebook (enjoy!) and it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time…this was my bed for an entire week…
My husband “put his foot down” and Jaxon was back in his own bed and I was un-happily dealing with him waking me up every single hour and taking him back to his bed…just to get up in another hour…so, I made him a cozy bed on the floor of our room and decided that him sleeping on the floor meant both of us getting SOME sleep and that would be better than what we were currently getting, right…wrong. My husband quickly caught on and wanted to put an end to that. However, the thing with my husband’s plan to get Jaxon sleeping in his own room again only included two people, Jaxon and ME…”wait a minute, why
is it my job to make him go back to his room when you are the one pushing the issue”…I mean I know that eventually he needs to go back to his room, but I was hoping it would just happen on its own and in the meantime we would all catch up on our sleep.
Ok, fast forward through the weekend (we had a few drinks with the neighbors this weekend so NOBODY was getting up with Jaxon 3 or 4 times to check for zombies) and I had the perfect plan! We would make a chart…and yes, the chart would eventually lead to a toy…but the most important part of the story is that JAXON WOULD BE SLEEPING IN HIS OWN ROOM AGAIN BY HIS OWN CHOICE!! See folks, that is exactly why I have a Ph.D., so I can come up with idea’s like this one :)
I pulled up Amazon (my most FAVORITE online shopping spot) and told him to pick any toy he wanted…didn’t mention my
plan yet. He chose a star wars blaster (surprise surprise) and I printed out the picture. Next we sat down at the table with all the supplies for the chart laid out and we had “the talk”. I explained that there is nothing wrong with his room and that he really need to be a big boy and start sleeping in it again. I told him that if he could sleep in his bed every night for 1 week that we
buy him the toy of his choice. I told him that he was allowed to wake me up 1 time (and only 1 time) if he got scared but that if he didn’t follow the rules he wouldn’t get the toy. He was very excited and ready to sleep in his own bed again!!
Well, I am happy to report that he slept in his room last night. He did come in and ask me at 5:00 AM if he could have a squirt (nose spray for his stuffy nose) and I happily walked him back to bed, turned on his humidifier (YES, in Florida…who would have thought!) and gave him a squirt, a quick kiss, and he went right back to sleep. When he got up today, he grabbed his “1” and put in on Monday all on his own. I am crossing my fingers that the rest of the week goes as well as last night did! Next week I have a plan in mind to decorate his chart with the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party since we are going there on Friday night…he is really looking forward to this and it won’t cost us any extra money to use it as his “sleeping reward”. Woo Hoo, score 1 for mommy!
My husband had a plan…”Jaxon, if you don’t like your pirate room, we can redecorate it, what would you like”…um, NO…we spent way too much money on his room to change it now, he is just using that as an excuse to sleep with us. Needless to say,
Jaxon was back in bed with us that night. Coincidently, I saw the picture below on Facebook (enjoy!) and it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time…this was my bed for an entire week…
My husband “put his foot down” and Jaxon was back in his own bed and I was un-happily dealing with him waking me up every single hour and taking him back to his bed…just to get up in another hour…so, I made him a cozy bed on the floor of our room and decided that him sleeping on the floor meant both of us getting SOME sleep and that would be better than what we were currently getting, right…wrong. My husband quickly caught on and wanted to put an end to that. However, the thing with my husband’s plan to get Jaxon sleeping in his own room again only included two people, Jaxon and ME…”wait a minute, why
is it my job to make him go back to his room when you are the one pushing the issue”…I mean I know that eventually he needs to go back to his room, but I was hoping it would just happen on its own and in the meantime we would all catch up on our sleep.
Ok, fast forward through the weekend (we had a few drinks with the neighbors this weekend so NOBODY was getting up with Jaxon 3 or 4 times to check for zombies) and I had the perfect plan! We would make a chart…and yes, the chart would eventually lead to a toy…but the most important part of the story is that JAXON WOULD BE SLEEPING IN HIS OWN ROOM AGAIN BY HIS OWN CHOICE!! See folks, that is exactly why I have a Ph.D., so I can come up with idea’s like this one :)
I pulled up Amazon (my most FAVORITE online shopping spot) and told him to pick any toy he wanted…didn’t mention my
plan yet. He chose a star wars blaster (surprise surprise) and I printed out the picture. Next we sat down at the table with all the supplies for the chart laid out and we had “the talk”. I explained that there is nothing wrong with his room and that he really need to be a big boy and start sleeping in it again. I told him that if he could sleep in his bed every night for 1 week that we
buy him the toy of his choice. I told him that he was allowed to wake me up 1 time (and only 1 time) if he got scared but that if he didn’t follow the rules he wouldn’t get the toy. He was very excited and ready to sleep in his own bed again!!
Well, I am happy to report that he slept in his room last night. He did come in and ask me at 5:00 AM if he could have a squirt (nose spray for his stuffy nose) and I happily walked him back to bed, turned on his humidifier (YES, in Florida…who would have thought!) and gave him a squirt, a quick kiss, and he went right back to sleep. When he got up today, he grabbed his “1” and put in on Monday all on his own. I am crossing my fingers that the rest of the week goes as well as last night did! Next week I have a plan in mind to decorate his chart with the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party since we are going there on Friday night…he is really looking forward to this and it won’t cost us any extra money to use it as his “sleeping reward”. Woo Hoo, score 1 for mommy!
A baby is one thing...imagine this with a seven year old!!
I LOVE it when he thinks my idea's are "cool" and sort of turn into his own idea's!
