Incentives and Attitude Adjustments

Oliver is a smart kid, but he doesn't really like school for the social aspects. All his best buddies go to different schools in town. He likes to read (not exactly a cool thing for a boy these days ...).

So I started offering him an "Oliva-Dolla" to tell me at least 1 good thing about school each day. My husband set up a program whereby Oliver can earn Oliva-Dollas for good behavior and doing his chores without being told. He can earn the O-D's with his attitude. There's an exchange rate, too. 1 OD=20 cents. 5 ODs can be exchanged for $1. It's a good system.

The first day, he really had to search for something good to say.

He catches on fast. The second day, he had 5 good things to say about school. That =5 Oliva-Dollas with an exchange rate of 20 cents per OD. He made $1 on that deal. Money is the incentive that moves him these days. And if that can change his attitude about school, it's worth $1 to me.

It's no surprise that with a cash-strapped economy, I don't exactly look forward to going to work most days now. My area is not revenue-generating and so we seem to be considered a liability by the bean-counters and even my own supervisor. Every day is a struggle. Oliver seems to understand that I'm not happy about the situation, so he turned the question on me : "Mumma, Name 1 good thing about work today."

I don't get Oliva-Dollas for the 1-good-thing about my work day. I do get a cheerier kid, though. Usually, the 1-good-thing is that I get to go home to a sweet and loving family. But that still makes for a LONG work day. Sigh!