"Sparkly Clean"

Jack typically hates to have his teeth brushed it is almost always a battle. In fact we keep a small container of quarters by his sink. He gets a "complaint quarter" if he takes a bath and brushes his teeth without (you guessed it... complaining.)

However, (on a side note) he has seemed to negotiate into levels of complaining. See if you can follow me: He has turned his "complaint quarters" into "truth tokens" and here is how...

At first we would ask him first if he did the tasks without complaining... Of course we got a "no complaining;" Then one of us would ask the one who accompanied him on his assignment in front of him if in fact he earned a quarter.

So one night I ask and got "no complaining" then I went to ask Stuart and Jack interrupted with "Oh I did complain but a small bit not a big bit!" We were actually so proud of him for telling the truth that they are now coined (pun intended) "Truth Tokens." And also a long came his idea of no complaints, a bit of complaints, a big bit of complaints and then there is the... don't even ask me, you heard the whole thing from the kitchen. You and I both know I do not get a reward.

Back to this morning... I came in to brush my teeth and Jack stood straight and proud just brushing away... No asking, bribing, begging, bargaining oooor dragging him kicking and screaming. He HAD to look in the mirror to see his teeth after and replied "I am so handsome... they are sparkly clean."

Oh and he didn't even ask for a "truth token" or I suppose in this case it would be a "complaint coin" either way he didn't ask for a reward his reward was pride and that was enough. Today he taught me there really are some things money can't buy.

He is growing so fast...