3 Month Accountable Kids Update

I have been meaning to do an update about the Accountable Kids program we are using.  It has been 3 months now and I am LOVING IT!!!

Two major reasons why I am so happy with it.  1)Kids are now sleeping through the night, and 2) Quiet Time!!!

I now have all three kids sleeping through the night.  How can a program do that you ask?  Well, let me explain.  In the program they have a privilege pass that can be earned.

 Each night Gorgeous would come out in the middle of the night at least 2 times and Adorable would be up 2 times as well.  I thought the privilege pass may solve Gorgeous coming out, I had no clue it would help Adorable.

So we told Handsome and Gorgeous that they had to stay in bed, expect for having to go potty (and we told them as parents we can tell when you REALLY need to use the bathroom or you are just faking it, since they are young this totally works :)  If they come out of their room before the morning when a light is on and Mom or dad are up they lose the privilege pass.  They also cannot wake up a sibling, if so they lose the privilege pass.

If they earn the privilege pass it is worth staying up an extra 15 min. later the next night, during this time they can play a game with mom or dad, read books, etc.

I was amazed at how well this worked.  The first night not only did Gorgeous stay in bed all night, but Adorable didn't wake up at all..... that's when I realized that when Gorgeous would go back into her room unhappy that she can't stay the night with us, she would wake up Adorable.  With her staying in bed all night Adorable didn't wake up and thus slept the entire night! 

Since the implementation of this about a month ago, I have been able to get a full night sleep most nights!!! I have felt so much better waking up and an now able to wake up early with Kent in the morning!


The second thing I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE is the implementation of Quiet Time.  I had heard many mothers talk about doing it and struggling with it.  When my kids potty trained (around 2 years old) they gave up naps, a price I happily paid for having a potty trained kid.  I really didn't think that quiet time would work for us.  I did not want to wrestle with a kid to stay in a room or to not talk, I knew I was not up for that type of battle, and I didn't want to set myself up for failure.

But in the Accountable Kids program they encourage you to introduce quiet time as a chore that has to be done.  So quiet time is a day time chore that has to be done, if a child talks, is loud, etc. he doesn't get to turn over the quiet time card, which means they do not earn a ticket for the day chores, and they will not get a star at the end of the day for doing all their chores (goes towards a date with mom or dad), and they will not earn any bonus bucks for work they had done. 

So I set up quiet time.  Handsome is in the toy room, Gorgeous is in the TV room, and Adorable is napping.  The kids can do any quiet activity that they would like; reading, coloring, play dough, Lego's, etc. they cannot talk to anyone, play with each other (because we know this will lead to noise) or make loud noises.

The first week I had to be in the middle of the two rooms and give quiet reminders.  After that it has worked like a charm.  And what do I do with my hour to myself?!  Enjoy every minute!!!! I now have an hour to read my scriptures, read my RS lesson manuals, the Ensign, or a good book.  I LOVE IT!!!  Sometimes I even get a nap myself.

Other great things have been happening.  The kids don't watch as much TV, to them it is not worth it, they use their tickets on things they want more than TV.   I feel my relationship is getting better with Gorgeous because of the dates we have gone on, I know she is loving the one-on-one time (Handsome has chosen to go with Dad each date).   We are doing Family Council most weeks.  And our family movie night has changed to family game night.  Since the kids didn't value the movies enough to save up the 3 tickets, after a month of not having movie night, we decided to make it a game night instead.  I am happy about this; more interaction and communication.

I have to say that it did take time to help the kids learn the system, but that extra effort was worth it.  After a month they knew exactly what was expected of them.  They now know the program and so do I, and it is now much easier then what I was doing before Accountable Kids.  Also, after about a month and a half the kids did "test" the system and I had to tweak things a little bit.  Thanks to the support from the Accountable Kids people, I wrote them an email about the struggle and they responded the next day, and the changes they suggested worked great.

Having learned about Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) in college and having ABA training at Northwest Behavior Associates, as well as being an ABA tutor for five plus years... I have had a lot of experience with ABA.  I love how they take the ABA theory, but also take it a step further acknowledging that children have the freedom to make choices, as well as helping to develop inward responsibility and self confidence, and strengthening family relationships.  It is a well thought out ABA system for the family to use.

I promise to continue to review the program and update you on how it is working in our family.

 But right now I have to say,

Thank you Accountable Kids!!!