So, as I sat one night just pondering life in general, I came up with a way to help our son get back onto the path of wisdom/compassion and decided that we needed a bucket. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this concept, it is the theory that everyone's heart is like a bucket. When you do nice things for someone, you fill their bucket, bad or mean things empty it. Well, we've been using this technique for some time now when talking with The Monk about how he can empty someone's bucket if he is mean to them or when he talks back, etc. However, talking hasn't been working. With ADHD, listening to someone babble on (such as your mother talking to you about misbehaviors - blah, blah, blah) doesn't really grab and hold the attention as much as it needs too. Because of this, The Monk is a visual/tactile learner. Now, I've known this for some time (which is why we have an interactive behavior chart and such), but the filling and emptying of buckets just wasn't sinking in during our heartfelt discussions on the stairs after a time out. So, I drew a bucket on our kitchen chalkboard and cut out and laminated some hearts. Now, whenever The Monk is caught doing something good with a kind and grateful heart, he gets to fill out a heart and fill up his bucket. Once his bucket is full, he has a visual clue that he has been loving and doing what is right. So far, this has been working like a charm! He loves filling in the hearts and sticking them in his bucket. We have also agreed that once he fills the bucket, we will all go out on a family date to share the love that has filled our buckets. I'm certainly knocking on wood and keeping my fingers crossed that this method continues to help my little man work on developing and growing his Buddhist heart.
As we continue to wade our way from the sea of chaos that has become our lives recently back onto a "normal" plain of existance, something that has been getting out of hand is the amount of attitude and back-talk that we have been receiving from The Monk. Now, generally, he is a good boy with a kind and helpful heart. Just, lately (because of all of the changes and such), there has been some struggle with maintaining a grateful and loving heart for our young man. He's been arguing a lot and just giving a whole bunch load of attitude (and if this is a sneak peak of what is to come in another 6 year, this has gotten to get taken care of ASAP!).
So, as I sat one night just pondering life in general, I came up with a way to help our son get back onto the path of wisdom/compassion and decided that we needed a bucket. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this concept, it is the theory that everyone's heart is like a bucket. When you do nice things for someone, you fill their bucket, bad or mean things empty it. Well, we've been using this technique for some time now when talking with The Monk about how he can empty someone's bucket if he is mean to them or when he talks back, etc. However, talking hasn't been working. With ADHD, listening to someone babble on (such as your mother talking to you about misbehaviors - blah, blah, blah) doesn't really grab and hold the attention as much as it needs too. Because of this, The Monk is a visual/tactile learner. Now, I've known this for some time (which is why we have an interactive behavior chart and such), but the filling and emptying of buckets just wasn't sinking in during our heartfelt discussions on the stairs after a time out. So, I drew a bucket on our kitchen chalkboard and cut out and laminated some hearts. Now, whenever The Monk is caught doing something good with a kind and grateful heart, he gets to fill out a heart and fill up his bucket. Once his bucket is full, he has a visual clue that he has been loving and doing what is right. So far, this has been working like a charm! He loves filling in the hearts and sticking them in his bucket. We have also agreed that once he fills the bucket, we will all go out on a family date to share the love that has filled our buckets. I'm certainly knocking on wood and keeping my fingers crossed that this method continues to help my little man work on developing and growing his Buddhist heart.
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How it all started...I was a public school teacher for 6 years in a very urban middle school for both 7th and 8th grade. As the red-tape got thicker and teaching became more of a business rather than a place to prepare young minds to enter into the world, I decided that if I was going to work that hard to give an education to someone, it should be my own son. So, my adventures in homeschooling has begun. Follow us on Instagram!
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