Rewarding Good Behavior

This morning on the way to gymnastics I reminded CootieBoy of the consequences if he misbehaved and didn’t listen to his teachers. And he listened, because he participated in absolutely every part of the class – including the stretching which he normally ignores. He would periodically turn to look at me to make sure I saw him doing everything, and I happily gave him a thumbs up whenever he glanced my way.

He did AWESOME. What was weird was after the class I went to stand in the area where the kids run out, and as he came out I stooped down to give him a big hug and thank him for being so good. As he got to me his face crumpled and he came barreling at me and pushed me before falling to the floor in tears.

What the…? I had NO idea where that came from. When I finally got him calmed down I asked him what was wrong and he wailed, “I don’t want a hug!” I said, “Ok, no problem,” and stood up. He calmed down immediately and became chipper and happy again.

Very weird kid, that CootieBoy.

But the key is that he behaved and did a great job, and I was very pleased, hug refusal notwithstanding. So as his reward for being good for the entire gymnastics class we’ll be heading out in about an hour to go see “Horton Hears a Who.”

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