Alarm

From yesterdays post - someone left a comment about the alarm.  And I don't think I've posted about it but it's something I want documented for sure. 

I'm not sure how long we've been doing this but it's been quite some time now.  When the girls are in time out - we set the alarm on our phone to go off when their time out is over.  When we have to leave somewhere - we give the girls the option of 'leaving right now? or in 5 minutes?' which of course they always choose the 5 minutes.  We set the alarm on our phone and when the 5 minutes is up - time to go.  If they even start to argue I remind them that THEY made the choice to leave in 5 minutes.  We could have left before :)  But usually there isn't any arguing (if so it's going to be from Emily). 

If I need to get someplace in a hurry and I don't have time for them to dilly dally around getting ready - I set the alarm and say "You have 5 minutes to get your shoes on, have what you're bringing in your hand and be at the door."  I set the alarm on my phone.  When the alarm goes off - whoever is ready GETS A PRIZE!  Yay!!!  Whoever isn't ready gets help from me.  I don't yell at them for not being ready but they do miss out on the prize.  (Usually a handful of mini marshmallows or a twizzler).  You would think it would cause a meltdown to give one a prize and not the other.  Sometimes it does.  But that can usually be averted with some soft words of encouragement by reminding them that they CAN get a prize...next time.  And that next time they can try harder to get ready.  When the same situation occurs - I remind them "Hey...you didn't get a prize last time.  Try really hard to get ready on time today so Mommy can give YOU a prize!!!"  I know it sounds so freakin' Marry Poppins but trust me...it works.  And when I find something that works - I don't mess with it. 

I love the alarm.  For the amount of times it 'creates' a meltdown - there are 20 times when it saves us one.  It also ensures that someone doesn't get left in time out too long!  LOL