The Listening Box

We're banking a lot on this box.

Tess has been a little hard of hearing these days. Well actually, she hears just fine--it's the listening part that's caused some difficulty. Her listening deficiencies usually fall into one of 3 categories:

1. Sheer Goofiness--Tess is a very silly girl and we like to tease and goof around a lot. But I have hard time communicating to her when I'm being serious. Sometimes she'll laugh, squirm or run away because she thinks it's all part of the game.
2. Outright Hostility--Tess has been going through a nasty little phase of this lately. When she furrows her eyebrows, she can give the look of death. The eyebrow look is often accompanied by phrases such as, "No, mama, stop! Go away!," "No, mama, turn head!," and "No, mama, I go to sleep!"
3. Selective Hearing--This one terrifies me because it bodes of the teenage years to come. There are times when Tess will totally tune me out because she doesn't want to listen to what I'm saying.

So how do you teach a 2 1/2 year old how to listen? Beats me.

Me, listen? I dare you!

We tried time-outs, but she just doesn't get it. She doesn't understand what the punishment is for. Or that it's punishment. Sometimes she'll even ask for time-out. Not particularly effective when you threaten "Tess, do you want a time-out?," and she responds, "Yes!"

Instead, we're trying the "Listening Box." It's a box with ears (which she thinks is quite silly). When she's a good listener, she gets to add listening puffs to her box. When her box is full we get to visit the pet store (one of her favorite outings).

So, is it working? Ummm...sometimes. She likes carrying the box around and adding the puffballs. I'm not sure she entirely "gets" this program either. She does ask to go to the pet store a lot.

The Listening Box is not enough to bring her out of a really bad tantrum, but she definitely responds better to positive reinforcement than my attempts at punishment.

At this point, that may be the best we're going to get.

Tess helping me clean the table.

Those puff balls are piling up!