Wants everything and wont stop whinging

[peanutter]

Hi there, hun. Sounds just like a girl we had living with us for over a year, a few years back ...

Two ideas:-

1. A monthly wall calendar, on which you write/use a simple picture to show what day(s) that months things will happen (pool, park, library, boo orders, ice cream, play centre, zoo, lunch out, etc). If planning a month ahead is unrealistic - if it's not manageable, perhaps a weekly chart would be more do-able. You can then just refer her to the calendar - "DD1, you know that we went to the park last Tuesday, and we're going again this Tuesday. Today is Sunday, we're not going today. We will go on Tuesday." You could even do a day schedule - play time, snack time, etc, with pictures of a clock with the time ... use it as an exercise for reading the time even!

2. Star chart, setting up expectations for her - we did one with two sections. One was for responsibilities (chores, curfew, etc) the other was for behaviour (being polite, being helpful, etc). Not getting a daily star in the responsibilities section lead to consequences, getting 5 stars in the behaviour section lead to a low cost age appropriate treat (small toy, magazine, CD single, etc). The responsibilities section set up key, measurable expectations. The behaviour section gave them something to work on, which could be clearly discussed and referred to, and encouraged positive behaviour. With some kids it worked fabulously. Some kids were too old for a star chart to really seem enticing, but hey, I'm sure you can think of something which could work for your DDs.