So my 4 year old had been going through a period of refusing to help clean up after herself, very defiant about it and just driving me absolutely nuts. I have been not dealing with it really well, my low point was when she dropped a piece of granola bar on the floor at the grocery store and refused to pick it up. I forced her to
I felt bad but was at the end of my rope)
So one night a couple of weeks ago she asked me to make up a nighttime story about Princess Sophia(we have been doing this for years) so I told her the story of how a wicked witch cast a spell on Princess Sophia and turned her into this little girl that her mommy and daddy didn't recognise. That she wouldn't help clean up after herself, wouldn't help with dinner anymore, wouldn't help unload the dishwasher, all the helpful things that she used to do.
The king and queen were very sad and frustrated because they needed everyone in the family to help out or they would be too tired from doing all the work themselves to do fun things with the Princess and her sisters.
So the king and queen went on a mission to find the witch and make her undo the spell. Finally they found her and had success(Reader's Digest version here) and Princess Sophia suddenly was free of the spell and started to pick up her toys and help out and the king and queen were very happy and not as tired anymore.
OK so it's a lame story but somehow it worked.
She is suddenly pitching in again, helping out, picking up after herself when asked and all the defiance has gone. I think the story helped her understand the effect she was having on all of us.
I didn't plan it, didn't tell the story to get a result, there was no manipulation involved though I won't hesitate to try this again in another circumstance, s he responded so well to it.
It's kinda cool really
Just sharin'
I felt bad but was at the end of my rope)So one night a couple of weeks ago she asked me to make up a nighttime story about Princess Sophia(we have been doing this for years) so I told her the story of how a wicked witch cast a spell on Princess Sophia and turned her into this little girl that her mommy and daddy didn't recognise. That she wouldn't help clean up after herself, wouldn't help with dinner anymore, wouldn't help unload the dishwasher, all the helpful things that she used to do.
The king and queen were very sad and frustrated because they needed everyone in the family to help out or they would be too tired from doing all the work themselves to do fun things with the Princess and her sisters.
So the king and queen went on a mission to find the witch and make her undo the spell. Finally they found her and had success(Reader's Digest version here) and Princess Sophia suddenly was free of the spell and started to pick up her toys and help out and the king and queen were very happy and not as tired anymore.
OK so it's a lame story but somehow it worked.
She is suddenly pitching in again, helping out, picking up after herself when asked and all the defiance has gone. I think the story helped her understand the effect she was having on all of us.
I didn't plan it, didn't tell the story to get a result, there was no manipulation involved though I won't hesitate to try this again in another circumstance, s he responded so well to it.
It's kinda cool really
Just sharin'
