Of Golden Stars and Black Dots .....

Parenting is an art or science ..the debate is endless and will continue. Bringing up a child when both the spouses work can be challenging as you are constantly plagued by guilt and wonder if you are spending adequate quality time with your child.
This guilt coupled with the notion of ..lets bring up our child without raising a hand ..talk it through to them can be quite stressful especially of you have had an office situation. It was one such day where the temper tantrums of Vaanya was getting the better of Bhavana and she was at her wit's ends. Not only was she feeling guilty but helpless on how to handle the situation.
Discussing with a colleague about the situation she got some advise. The senior colleague told her about a method which had been tried and tested by her. Make a large chart and create incentivisation. A golden star for every good deed and a black dot for wrong doings. This sounded a different approach and Bhavana got very excited and came back the same evening and made the chart shown here.
A few days passed and the method seemed to be working well until one day Bhavana returned home in a foul mood and having an argument with someone on the phone. Our daughter Vaanya takes her to the bedroom and says" Mama, lets make a chart for you..A golden star for every good behaviour and a black dot for display of anger and any other such deeds...
This left the mother flummoxed and speechless..360 degree happening at home and that too by a 3 + years old....
She obviously had to quickly think of something new....( how about the old age technique of A WHACK..no arguments..just do it because Mom has said so...)

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