Little girls fighting? babysitting question.?

Question

i have been babysitting these two little girls for a long time. they always fight with eachother physicaly and vocaly. so i made a deal with them saying that if they are good for the whole day that i am babysitting a will give them a hershey's chocolate bar. Do you think that was a good or bad idea?

Answer 1

I watched ion this show for child care to give them a pillow just to express their anger. Hope it helps.

Answer 2

Good.

but i would make a chart, and they have to be good for a week without fighting.

Or another time amount.

Answer 3

Put them in the dark and cover your ears and say la la la...

Answer 4

my mum had six of us running around so you can imagine the fighting and arguing. then one day she had a fantastic idea and did a star chart. if we were good and did as we were told we would get a star by our name but if we were naughty she'd take them of. the one with the most stars at the end would win a prize lets just say her days were more peaceful. maybe you could introduce it and get there parents to keep it going like doing it on a weekly/monthly basis. i think my mum did it on a monthly basis and throughout the month we'd have stars put on and taken of going of our behavior. not only that as there trying to be the best they can and out win each other they won't want to lose so won't cause fights or arguments. if not the parents then when you babysit you could either do it on a half hour/hourly basis depending on how long you have them where if there good for the stated time they get a star if not they get them taken of and award a small prize at the end of it or you could do i over a few babysitting evenings lets just say 5 for now and each time they are awarded stars for there behavior and after the 5 babysitting evenings the winner gets the prize. also let them know you will be showing there parents the star chart as they wouldn't want them to see how naughty they've been. i hope this helps as it worked really well for us, we went out of our way to be good and not cause fights etc and it turned out to be fun

Answer 5

Probably not the best idea, but if the parents aren't addressing the issue do what works for you.

Answer 6

I think the idea of rewarding them is excellent. Be careful about using food as a reward though. This can have future unhealthy side effects. Is there something that they enjoy doing that you can use as a motivator? For instance, if they like to go to the park, you can tell them that if they are good until their parents get home then you will take them to the park. An activity is usually a more appropriate motivator than food. Good Luck!

Answer 7

You should start by talking to their parents about it as you don't want the decision to come back around and make you look bad.  It would probably be harder to do with children that are not yours, if it's verbal it's usually a stern it needs to stop now and then address it if it continues.  if it is physical it always results in something important to them being taken away.  Find out what sort of "drives" them.  If they love TV or playing specific games or what not let them earn the time to do that with their good behavior.  As good as the chocolate bar sounds if they earned it very often it really wouldn't be healthy.  A hershey bar might be a good at the end of an entire week of being good.  Or if you are allowed to take them out of the house maybe a happy meal at the end of the week?  Just don't use the food as a regular reward.

Answer 8

promoting good behavior is never a bad thing to do-

However, there are also limits. if you give a child a chocolate too many times for doing the right thing, when you do eventually decide to wean him of the habit he may simply just revert to what he knows works.

It is a proven fact (as much as people hate to do it : D) that children learn and remember events that are traumatizing to them much better than events that are a positive experience. Perhaps it would be good to lay down the law of the land and spare the candy for yourself some time?

Just a thought : ), as always, its a very situational thing.