Thursday, December 18, 2008

Christmas M&Ms

Monday morning didn't start out fantastic.  Erik was out the door before 5:30 to head back to Houston, after spending all last week there and not getting home until Saturday night. It was COLD outside. One child of mine was doing everything possible before school to antagonize his mother and siblings. I felt like our before-school scripture study was a disaster and I found myself worn out by 9:00 when my visiting teachers arrived.  Melanie brought a bag of Christmas M&Ms and Michelle made yummy peanut butter popcorn. They shared a nice message, we had a great visit and they left. 

Throughout the day I found myself reflecting on the morning and kept thinking that there was something I could do to motivate my son to be more cooperative in the mornings. This isn't the first time he's been this way, but for some reason it really bothered me that day.  I prayed that night and the next morning that it would be a better morning and I would know what I should do to help things get off to a better start.

After I picked up Amanda from seminary, we had family prayer and I noticed the M&Ms on the kitchen counter.  As we began scripture study I announced to the kids that they would each get some candy if their behavior was cooperative.  They would start out with 3 M&Ms and I would take one away every time they misbehaved.  There was a total transformation in this child from the day before.  Amazing.  Possibly even miraculous.  Everyone earned their 3 M&Ms (yes, THREE little M&Ms.)  Yesterday he asked if we could do that again and the results were the same.

So, to my visiting teachers - M & M - thank you for coming on Monday.  Thank you for bringing treats, and for providing the inspiration I needed to realize that sometimes we just need a little something sweet to help us do better.

10 comments:

tamara said...

What a sweet story! It just goes to show that even the smallest gestures we make to others can have such a significant impact! Great idea, too...we may have to try that at our house...thanks for sharing :-)

HDH. said...

Treats always help me be a better person -- it's not just your son! :)

Paige said...

Amazing insight Julie! I can only pray that I get the same insight into my children's behaviors. I always want to do better, but seeing you actually do it makes me think I can too. Merry Christmas.

Kammy T said...

Perfect!!

John and Jenny said...

I think you are incredibly blessed to have such fantastic women as VT. I am jealous. M&M's always work for me too!

Debbie said...

That's so inspiring, Julie. Little things really do mean a lot. And especially when it's chocolate.

Hope you are enjoying this holiday season!

Happy Heidi said...

I love this story. It's amazingly how little small incentives can yield such huge outcomes. I need to remember this. I noticed my boys will sit still for scriptures if they have a lollipop in their mouth:) You're a good inspiration. (And I'm glad other people have trouble getting their angels to behave:))

Melanie said...

Yay! I'm glad the M&M's helped...I should have brought a bigger bag ;)

Tami said...

That is so great! The Lord has such Tender Mercies in our lives and really does care about us enough to help us through the small things in our lives. A great idea...I might try it with something else. Thank you for sharing. have a merry Christmas. I miss ya!

rhondas view said...

we use the small treat to motivate at my school... and so you know- skittles seem to have magic powers beyond any other treat i've tried. (just in case the m&m's run out;)

cute blog julie! love the candy canes!