By John Rosemond
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
Every so often, through my Web site usually, a parent - well,
actually, a mom - will send me an especially creative idea she stumbled upon in
the course of trying to solve an everyday parenting problem. I call these
parenting nuggets. A few examples follow:
-An allowance tax? The parents of four children, all younger
than 10, came up with a novel strategy, one that bears the unmistakable mark of
an investment banker, which the husband happens to be. The kids each receive $5
per week. Of that, $1 must go for "taxes." (A 20 percent flat tax reveals the
parents to be conservative Republicans.) Mom writes: "We put that in an envelope
and spend it on the family. Then $1 goes into a long-term savings jar and $1 in
a short-term savings jar. That leaves $2 a week to spend. The kids can spend the
money from the short-term jar when it has accumulated to at least $5 and from
the long-term jar when it has accumulated to $25. This may seem complicated, but
it's actually simple to administer; plus, the kids caught on right away."
My comment: This isn't complicated at all, especially given
that children understand it, and it is a laudable way of starting to acquaint
children with the real-world realities of money management. Good idea!
-Pajamas stop bedwetting: The mother of a 24-month-old
potty-trained girl writes that her daughter was wetting the bed. The mom had
heard that letting a child sleep either naked or wearing only minimal clothing
(e.g., a thin cotton nightgown) would end the nightly floods, so Mom had the
child sleep in a thin nightgown.
That made no difference, so at that point this mother tried the
usual strategies, none of which ever work: withholding liquids, waking the child
several times a night, telling her that if she wet the bed a monster would come
and eat her. (No, I made that up.) One night, it crossed Mom's mind that perhaps
her daughter was wetting the bed because she was cold. So, the next night she
put her in fuzzy pajamas and panties. Hallelujah! The little girl's been dry
ever since, at naptime and at night, and Mom's been a happy camper ever
since.
My comment: Bedwetting is a developmental issue, not
behavioral. Sometimes, just changing something in or removing something from the
child's environment will hasten the resolution of a problem that isn't
"disciplinary" in nature. Why something like this works is anyone's best guess,
but who cares?
-No-sippy zone: A mom writes, "Both my kids were nursed, and
when I weaned them, they went straight from the breast to a cup. Plus, I managed
to avoid the whole "sippy cup" thing. Instead, I used two small plastic cups at
each meal/snack. I filled one cup with milk or water and poured a very small
amount (the equivalent of a single sip) from the full cup into an empty one.
When the baby drank the sip, I'd pour another sip into the second cup.
"Initially, a lot got spilled, but as they got better at
drinking without spilling, I would increase the amount of milk in the cup. It
took time and patience, but both of our kids learned to drink without ever using
a 'sippy' top. We did, however, use spill-resistant cups with straws on trips
and away from home. You wouldn't believe the stares we got from people who saw
our little ones actually drinking without a 'sippy!' Oh yeah, I almost forgot:
Invest in a few plastic-backed bibs for the first week or so!"
My comment: I asked an older woman, one whose children were
raised before spill-proof cups, "How did you train your children to drink from a
cup?" She described doing what this mom did, proving, once again, that there is
nothing new under the sun.
© 2003, The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.).
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
