Kids. Halloween. Excitement. Candy. Yep, and over stimulation, overtired, way off schedule. At my house, this is a recipe for disaster. We do really well during the exciting event; then we crash. Anger spews forth; chaos takes over. But...not so this time.
Today was the Monday back to school after Halloween weekend. Not only was it Halloween, but Grandma was in town so there were lots of family dinners, playing with relatives, and a big Sunday afternoon football game. I tempered it all with "rest time" each day - everyone was in his/her respective room napping/resting for an hour each day. Incentives were also planned carefully. My son had already lost his school Halloween party for his poor choices on Thursday afternoon, so I guess he decided I really was serious that he would not go trick-or treating if Saturday wasn't smooth. (I really would have taken it away.)
Today I got an email from my son's teacher...he had a GREAT day. Wow! This was a surprise. Was it the incentive of trick-or-treating? watching a football game with family? the loss of other things last week? Monitoring the candy intake? This is the time when I want my son to have a flip-top head so I can open it up and look inside to see what went right.
What's the plan for the next holiday? Slipping in bits of calm everywhere I can. That and short -term incentives to earn (not more than 1/2 a day away, I've learned). We'll also continue working on building up the skill of choosing to go calm down instead of exploding and having to be removed from a situation. Thanksgiving has less candy - that's gotta help!!
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