Points for Chuck-E-Cheese

We often hear compliments on how well behaved our boys are, which is always great to hear.  Isn't that what parents want to hear, that their kids are well behaved in the presence of others?  Yes, that is true.  What else is true is that every kid has bad days, down days, days when they just don't feel like being the good kid.  For our boys, that usually occurs first thing in the morning, last thing in the evening and sometimes in between.  Fortunately, it's usually at home when we are our most comfortable and true colors can shine bright.  It is those time when our boys will tend to not listen even though we have asked them a gazillion times to "get dressed, brush your teeth, go upstairs for a bath, go upstairs for a bath, go upstairs for a bath, Don't Make Me Ask You Again!!!"

So... in the spirit of their competitive nature and language of appreciation, we created a point system. If they did something the first time we ask they would get 1 point.  If they did something without being asked they got 2 points.  If they didn't do something that we asked, they lost a point.  It was brilliant and worked like a charm!  Oliver took to it immediately and Kellan followed suit.  The deal was that it was a group effort and if they earned a combined 100 points, we would take them somewhere that we normally would NEVER take them.  Without hesitation, they requested Chuck-E-Cheese.

ugh!

SO...  in less than a week, they had 100 points.  We should have raised the bar a bit higher.

It took us a couple of weekends to pay the reward (due to schedule conflicts) but finally, we made it.

They were bouncing off the walls in anticipation.  We couldn't get there fast enough.  "Are we there yet" rang through the car.  It's only a 15 minute drive.

We ordered up pizza, purchased coins and divided them by two.  Oliver watched carefully to make sure that the cashier was being honest and dividing them equally.

There were TONS of games to provide an hour of entertainment.  Those of you who have been there know this.  For us, we have never been in our adult years we had only heard the horror stories from other parents.

This game was our favorite.  You just push this handle up and down to shoot balls into the bull dogs mouth.  It was fantastic fun!

Even Kellan loved this game.

What would a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese be without some Wack-A-Mole Sharks?

We admit, it wasn't anywhere near the awful place that we had heard it was.  We all had a great time and the kids were over-the-moon thrilled with their little plastic trinkets that they won.  It just goes to show, you can't knock it until you try it (as we were reminded by our six year old).

Next up, we have raised the bar on the reward system.  Where to next?