I KNOW that the “experts” say we shouldn’t reward our children with food. They’ll end up with messed up ways of thinking about food and eventually be morbidly obese and probably prematurely bald or something.
So in the interest of following the advice of “experts” and not royally screwing him up, I didn’t actually reward Carson’s surprisingly AWESOME school behavior with pudding. Rather, I rewarded him with MAKING pudding. That’s totally different.
Any kids that sits in circle time AND sings AND likes it, totally deserves some pudding. I mean, they deserve to MAKE some pudding.
Poor Carson with the cheap Mommy. Maybe someday I’ll make enough off my ads to by real Nilla Wafers.
Now if I can just get him to wait until after dinner to eat it…then the pudding would be dessert and NOT a reward! TOTALLY. DIFFERENT.
OOHHHH YAY! So glad this week at school went SO VERY WELL
And making pudding sounds like the perfect treat.
Way to GO CARSON!!
It must be a banana pudding kind of week – we’re making some tonight! And don’t worry…we use the Meijer brand wafers too.
Yay Carson! That’s terrific. And making pudding is definitely totally different. Absolutely.
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Rewarding good behavior with mommy time is always a good way to go!
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Darn tootin’ making it is different than being rewarded with premade pudding….TOTALLY different.
Glad he had a good time this week at school.
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Yay Carson! Way to go!!!
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Don’t worry, pudding is totally among the healthiest “sweet” treats. I mean, it’s got all kinds of milk, so it’s full of calcium and vitamin D. So, worst case scenario, he’ll wind up as an Olympic weight lifter with strong bones and muscles.
See? you’re really helping him!
(Keep saying that and you might actually believe it!)
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Wait. We’re NOT supposed to reward our kids with candy and ice cream? Crap. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.
Congrats to Carson and his stellar behavior. Enjoy the puddin’!
Too funny, ’cause MAKING food is a reward that my kid LOVES too! He won’t eat most of what he “makes” with me, but he loves to help in the kitchen. Go figure!
So tell me what you do with the vanilla wafers: just pour the pudding over top and let it set? Looks yummy!
If he helps you it is NOT a reward.
And if you can get him to wait to eat it…then tell me how you accomplished that.
We made jello the other day and then I had two kids in puddles of tears on the kitchen floor because it had to set for four hours. Plus, they thought Jello only came in little plastic containers with tin lids.
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it really helps if you make the pudding in a bill cosby voice.
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Wow, Jennifer- cook and serve! You get a mom of the year award for that one! I don’t think I’ve ever even had that.
I’m glad you had a good day at their school!
Hey, rewards for stuff like that are ok. Mine got ice cream today for it being the first day of school, that’s all. Carson will not end up warped or fat for one reward. Just sayin’.
I don’t care what anyone says – a good day at school is TOTALLY deserving of pudding.
Anyone who says otherwise is clearly just nuts.
And by the way, yum! Now I want to go and make some pudding. After all, I was a very good girl at school today. Well, mostly I was…
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Yay! So glad you had a better time at school.
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Look, all parent ing rules are fine if you remember one thing: it’s time to break the rule if it will prevent you from yelling at, hitting, or hating your kid.
A REAL mom knows when to bend.
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Oh man you got me really craving ‘nana pudding.
Good job to him for being such a good boy. I
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I’m glad to hear that this week was better than last at school! My 2.5 year-old and I just made pudding (pronounced “putting” around my house) over the weekend. It wasn’t a reward for being good at the store because that’s what the dum dum suckers are for! It’s fun to see excited how little ones get when they have a chance to help out in the kitchen. I need to brainstorm more fun and easy things to do in the kitchen . . .
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I’m so glad that class went well this week!
And seriously? What’s the point of pudding that’s *not* chocolate?
That’s the disturbing parenting technique, right there.
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Positive Behavior Support, baby…and who cares if it’s with (making) food! Glad this week is starting off better.
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If I’m a good boy do I get a reward too?
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I’m so glad Carson did better at school.
And because I am definitely not a child rearing expert, I wholeheartedly agree with MAKING pudding as a reward for doing such a good job at school.
I refuse to believe I bribed my children. I simply made them see that it was worth it to do what I asked.
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So happy for you that today went better – and what a great reward (the making of course, NOT the eating).
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He sat? He sang? He liked it? No, he deserves PUDDING! How did it go; could he wait until dinner was over?
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Pudding is a HUGE winner in this house. But not making it, just eating it.
Carter will do just about anything for pudding.
I bought a Cook and Serve pudding once. I threw it away.
I used to bribe Quinn not to cry for ice skating lessons with a milk shake from McDonalds. Kind of took away the whole “active kid” thing – giving him a milk shake afterwards. But, it worked. He stopped crying and enjoyed the lessons. Sometimes I think kids get in the habit of acting a certain way in certain circumstances and you need to do something to change it. And if that something is a promise of making pudding or getting a special treat, so be it. Right???
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Isn’t pudding dairy? Right? I mean, that’s super healthy.
WOO HOO, congrats on the circle time success!
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@Kia: Yep, that’s what I did. I poured the pudding over the nilla wafers and let it set.
It was delicious! I also put some sliced banana on top before serving to make it super healthy *snicker*.
Banana pudding is my favorite thing in the WORLD, and I’ve always wanted to learn how to make it. Now I guess I’ll have to look into it.
I reward with popsicles. Screw the experts.
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@kirida: Damn! I didn’t do that. That would have made it even better. I should have drug out my colorful sweaters so that when I was doing my impression, I’d look just like Bill. Except pasty white. And with boobs.
@Cathy: I didn’t realize it was cook and serve until I’d gotten Carson all excited about making pudding. At that point, I really didn’t have a choice!
I’ll pay better attention when I’m buying it next time, eventhough it wasn’t that big of a deal!
YAY!!! So glad it went better!!! Wooo!
Love the pics. Your camera is awesome.
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@Slacker Mama: Normally it would have been chocolate, but since my 15 month old was going to eat some, too, I didn’t want to her to make THAT big of a mess. Vanilla is easier to clean up!
I’m blaming you for falling off my diet tonight . . . off to raid the pantry for some pudding!
And I agree . . . totally not a *reward*. Totally. The proof is in the pudding.
Was the real point of this post to sell pudding, because it worked.
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I WAS SOOO GOOD YESTERDAY
can I get some rewarDESSERT?
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Dude, totally. the moosh would much rather get to cook than eat something right away. Girl loves to cook. Let’s start a kid’s cooking show with our cute kids and smite Rachael Ray. Deal?
That is awesome that Carson had such a great day. I am sure that he enjoyed making the puddling even more than eating it. (okay maybe just a little more)
And I would totally use Meijer things if we had one less than 20 miles from here. *pout* So we use Great Value stuff mostly, unless it is on sale or I have coupons.
Mmmmm…pudding *gets distracted*
I agree with Zellmer “Screw the experts”. After all, they’re always changing their opinions on things anyways. A good bribe never hurt anyone- even a food bribe
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I like the way you think.
Mmmmm, now I want pudding.
Lordy, that looks so good!
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Yay Carson! You enjoy every last moment of that pudding reward – um – i mean DESSERT!!
Hooray for happy cooperation!
Glad you both had a better day.
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Yeah, yeah, I know they say not to do it, but I do it anyway. Not all the time, but for special occasions.
For example, I told my daughter that her first day with NO TEARS at kindergarten, we’d go for ice cream, just the two of us. But it’s totally not just the eating of the treat, it’s the WHOLE THING! So you get a big nod of approval from ME!
I like the way you think. My boys LOVE to help cook. They would def. see that as a reward!
Looks yummy!
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Reward or dessert, either way you’re making me crave pudding and vanilla wafers… they have those in Missouri, right?
Yummy. I am totally making banana pudding this weekend. That is a good emergency hurricane food right?!
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good one! mom, used to make something like this… is it wrong to totally crave for this treat?
Heh. Whoever said that you shouldn’t reward good behavior with food hasn’t had kids. Or, rather, they had really well behaved children that responded to other methods of parenting. OR, they did reward their children with food but took it to the extreme and their children had thyroid problems to boot.
Good moms know when a tasty reward makes an impact. Plus, you got quality time with him, and that’s what he’ll really remember!
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Heh, I think I will always buy store brands, unless I know for sure that the more expensive name brand is better!
I bet he loved making some pudding!
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