Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The Rokenbok Dilemma

If you don't know what this is, it's a very cool remote control toy. Lots of ways to set up to lift, pour, scoop, transport. Different kinds of vehicles to operate, a monorail system. A creative kid's dream come true. So when we had failed to get Holland on a bathroom schedule, the Rokenbok toy popped to mind. Of course it didn't help that his father had left the basement open where it was stored for Christmas. Or that he never covered it up. (I forget, are our kids blind?) Or that he couldn't just say we were storing it for our cousins. (A tip for new parents: be quick on your feet. Be able to think AHEAD of your child) He became so obsessed with it, I couldn't see me surviving until Christmas. So it was decided that he could earn parts of the Rokenbok for a successful stretch of ten days for staying on his bathroom schedule.

It might as well have been 10 years. He complained; he yelled; he refused to sit; he fibbed about sitting; he said he was bored; he said he didn't have to go; he said it was stupid. Get the picture? I even replaced the cold, hard toilet seat with a nice soft, cushy seat. So when the 11 days were up (I added another day in for poor attitude), he was very excited. I even had one of his cousins help me decide which pieces to give him. We bought a huge assortment off of Craigslist. (Romania called it "dad's list" thinking it was his father's). We're all excited about the accomplishment. He played with it for 2 days. He also hooked it up to anything else electronic with extra holes. Two days after earning this, he informs me that "You can keep the rest of the Rokenbok until Christmas". I asked why? "I don't want to do the 5 minute schedule anymore." Wow. So the prospect of a new toy doesn't motivate him enough to just sit for 5 minutes.

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