The constant crying. The on-going whining. The arguing between each other. It is all too much. I have been slacking in the discipline/confrontation area mainly because I am tired from the lack of sleep and because the cold weather has forced us inside. It is hard to assimilate into the next season, especially if the next season is Winter and you LOVE the outdoors. Bah Humbug. This alone, has caused me to be a mean mommy and use my mean voice a lot, lately.

What's a mommy supposed to do about the behavior of her preschoolers?

Start a simple behavior chart. My kids are ultra competitive. They will love it. Right?

The first square on the behavior chart was Monday. On Monday, Jay cried twice and Lola whined fifteen times in the first hour and that night they both earned a sad face.

On Tuesday the kids were angels for most of the day. "Wow, I am a genius. I have figured it out, yet again!" Every ten minutes or so, they would ask me if it was a happy day or a sad face day. I told them, "I don't know yet, we haven't even had breakfast." They were more interested in happy or sad faces then maintaining their behavior.

So.... they took matters into their own hands while I prepared some winter stew for dinner.

Lola first started making some revisions on her Monday face (see pictures below). She used her favorite purple marker to change the direction of the face's smile. She tried to give the face three happy smiles to over ride the one sad smile.

Lola then moved onto Tuesday's square and was quickly discouraged by her lack of drawing smiley faces inside of small squares. She started whining, "I. DON'T. KNOW. HOW. TO doooooooooooo this! I don't! Maaaaaammmmmmaaaaa!" She's getting angrier by the minute. I ignore her behavior and add some carrots to the beef stew. "But, mmmmmaaammmmmmmmmaaaaaa, help me."

What's a mommy supposed to do if her preschooler can not draw a smiley face? Teach her how, of course.

We threw out the behavior charts on Wednesday and we had a terrific day. Today we are chartless and have 5 months left of our winter. Last year we had 20 inches of snow in April. Any recommendations on how to discipline hibernating, outdoor-loving, whiny preschoolers?