Nightmare Update....It CAN'T be that simple...

A few days after the "Nightmare on Fribourg Street" post a friend of ours, Scott, was over at our house picking up his kids and asked how the whole "bed thing" was going. I gave him the nightmare update and then he suggested trying a very different approach since what we had been doing for the past two weeks had not worked AT ALL.... why not try telling them that they will get a sticker in the morning when they get up if they stay in their beds and don't get up all night long....He teaches kids everyday that have special needs or have major behavior issues and he said that he had found that focusing on the "positive" side (like rewarding them for choosing the right behavior, etc.) verses focusing on the "negative" (like trying to STOP them from doing the wrong behavior, etc.) had worked A LOT better for the kids in his class. I kind of laughed at him when he suggested this....like promising MY girls a measly little sticker the next morning was going to do ANYTHING....yeah, right!! BUT....we decided to try this approach anyways....why not? nothing else had worked...might as well give it a go even if I knew that there was NO way it was going to work.......

So, that night we told them it was time to go to bed and if they stayed in their beds and didn't get up AT ALL, that they would get a sticker in the morning. Their faces lighted up..."a stickeeeee????".....Yes, but ONLY if you stay in your beds and don't get up AT ALL. They then both crawled up into their beds (on their on), got under the covers and said "nite-nite". We then walked out of the room and waited for the wild monkeys to begin their craziness...we waited for a few minutes and then a few more minutes....after about 20 minutes of silence we looked at the monitor and to OUR UTTER AMAZEMENT they were both fast asleep...WHAT?!?!? No way....THEN, the next morning when we walked into their room to get them we were totally expecting to find the remains of an F-5 tornado as we had every morning for the previous two weeks (when they woke up each morning, they would get out of their beds and DESTROY their room)....I almost passed-out when I walked in and saw them SITTING IN THEIR BEDS, patiently awaiting my arrival. When I walked in, they both said..."We get a stickeee cause we stayed in our big-gurl beds all night".....Yes, I am not kidding. This is a true story....not just a wonderful dream. So, for the past two weeks, they have stayed in their beds EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!! I do believe the nightmare has ended...or at least it seems very hopeful :) I can't believe it was THAT simple....

A big shout out to Scott!! Thanks for your advice....it worked!...at least for our two little crazy monkeys :)

The first morning after....sporting their stickeeeeees on their hands....

Seriously??? yes, seriously.... :)