Yourself* 

My room is in desperate need of being clean, as it usually is. But one of my best friends is visiting me tomorrow and I want to show her my beautiful room (my beautifully clean room). 

I am also in desperate need of watching Parenthood. Complication…clean room…watch Parenthood…clean….room…..hmph. 

So I said to myself “For every 15 items you hang up in your closet, I’ll let you watch 30 minutes of Parenthood.” I began cleaning. I hung up 30 items. YES! Success. 

Others*

I did this same thing with my little brother when he was here and staying with me during his winter break. His new favorite song was Someone Like You by Adele. My brother doesn’t get tired of things quickly. Once he finds a favorite, it is SERIOUSLY his favorite and he watches/listens/plays it over and over and over and over and over again. And I know I can speaking confidently for the other three members of my family and myself by saying, WE defintely get tired of things quickly…especially Noah’s favorites. But we love him anyways.

So, he found this song on my iPod and wanted to listen to it non-stop. Everytime we got in the car - “Can we listen to it?” I’d play it…”One more time?” Ugh.

Another thing about my brother is that his hygene hasn’t always been his strong suite. He has always had a tough time keeping his breath minty, and again I can speak for everyone in my family by saying…it was a problem. But we still love him.

So. This new obsession of his plus his continuous lack-of-hygene-issue equals for me…an easy fix.

“Noah. For every time you brush your teeth a day, that’s how many times we can listen to Adele.” Done. It got him. He brushed three times in one hour the next day. Days after that, he would say. “I brushed five times! Can we listen?” ugh. 

I wasn’t liking my conclusive promise so much anymore.

Yourself*

But I did promise him. He did something for me, and in return he got rewarded. I needed to follow through with his reward if I wanted him to trust me and my promises. 

This is the mother I know I will be. If I had more of this growing up, I’d probably be at Yale. I think it’s a good system that works. I know there’s a line and bribery doesn’t and shouldn’t always work. It’s probably actually dangerous. But I’m still figuring that out.

At least for now, it does work, for myself, for others, and myself. I have yet to run into a problem.

And when I do, I’ll probably write about it. 

The End.