Meet MAC

Do you ever just get so tired of whining you can't handle it anymore? Lately we've had some less-than-appropriate attitudes going on, and I begged God to give me a creative idea to help with it! I then listened to Dobson's "Raising Well-behaved Children 1"... and 2... and 3, 4, and 5! I also pulled out my copy of Lisa Welchel's "Creative Correction." (Can you tell I was at my whit's end?) Poor girls are truly just tired from being woken up by the poor teething baby, which has mom needing a little attitude adjustment, as well!

Anyway, what I came-up with was this: our new "friend" Mac! He's an acronym for My Attitude Can. And, I made him a craft project for the girls...

First, I had the girls show me what half looks like, and had them paint 10 craft sticks light blue on one side, and black on the other...

After painting, we made the can. Allison chose the paper, and Natalie chose the ribbon, and both learned a lesson on measuring.

Once the girls went to bed, I tied ribbons around the sticks, just to make them cuter. The next morning, (today), I introduced the girls to MAC. Each time the girls did something positive, I stuck a blue stick in the can. Conversely, each time they did something negative, I stuck a black stick in the can. Once all 10 of the sticks were in, I just flipped them from black to blue or blue to black as needed. By the end of today, (with a little grace), they had all blue sticks, so they got to put a special sticker on their calendar. If they have 20 stickers by the end of the month, they get to choose a Hello Kitty purse from a collection my friend just gave me.

There were SO many positives to today. Allison gave Natalie her favorite Kitty to sleep with tonight when Natalie was sad, even though originally she was crying for it, too... (this was after the sticks had been put to bed, so it was from the heart!)

Some negative... the girls did ask a few times if I would put a blue stick in. I don't want them to ask! We'll work on it...

And, some funny: Tonight Natalie came up to me and said, "Mom, thank you SO much for dinner. You worked so hard, and it was so yummy." "Thanks, Natalie," I replied. "Did you really mean that, or are you just looking for a blue stick?" Natalie, with a big smile and some giggles, "I just want a blue stick!" At least she's honest :)