Thursday, June 7, 2018
The Return of the Countdown Candy
The school year in New York goes waaaay too long. Cubby and Charlie's last day of school isn't until June 22. The weather feels summery, everyone has trouble going to sleep because it stays light too late, and everyone has a really hard time getting up in the morning due to the late bedtimes.
We're over it.
Last year I had some problems with reluctant boys not wanting to get on the school bus towards the end of the year. I got tired of cajoling and threatening and forcibly leading them out the door, so I decided bribery was definitely the answer.
Thus, the tradition of Countdown Candy was born.
I asked A. to get me some kind of small candy at the store. He chose Reese's Pieces, which I of course approved of. Then I put three Reese's Pieces in each cup of an egg carton--one for each boy*. After everyone was ready for the bus, including backpacks on, they got one Reese's Piece (I suppose that's the singular form) on their way out the door and we counted the cups that still had candy in them to see how many days were left.
It worked magically well.
We haven't had so many bad mornings this year, but I've been waiting until there were only twelve days left of school anyway. Today is the day. The Reese's Pieces are in their egg carton, ready to count down the final days of school.
The Countdown Candy is sweet, but the end of the year is sweeter still. We're almost there. Twelve days and counting . . .
* No, Jack does not actually get on the bus, but he always came outside with us to wait, and do you think he's going to watch his brothers eat candy at 7:15 a.m. without demanding his own? Ha.
What a great idea for coping with those end-of-year crazinesses that afflict kids (and parents and teachers). Glad you shared so other parents can try out the plan.
ReplyDeleteCountdown candy is a great idea!! I start doing similar incentives too - they get so tired and grumpy towards the end of the year. Caspar has til 13th July though - which is about a week earlier than most schools. We don't go back til 5th Sept though. Know what you mean about the lighter nights and earlier mornings - we are talking 11pm here and 4am in the morning - is it about the same for you? What with that and the amorous birds outside and it is impossible to get a good night's sleep (moaning about summer isn't right though is it, I should stop :)). Have a GREAT week-end!
ReplyDeleteEuropafox: Holy cow--now THAT is a long school year. Punishing. Also, long days. At the moment, it's fully dark here by about 10 a.m. and the sun is coming up around 4:30 a.m., so not quite as bad as you.
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