In the hopes of giving parental units valuable and useful advice, I am putting forth OmegaMom's Prescription For Sticker Bribery.

Goal:

The goal of sticker bribery is to get one end result.

Recommended:

Offer the bribee one method of obtaining stickers.

Contraindicated:

Do not offering the bribee two approaches to obtain stickers.  Offering two approaches, with only one of the approaches being the desired goal, is a sure-fire method of getting the bribee to not achieve the goal.

In other words, yes, we had uninterrupted sleep last night (the angels sing, "Hallelujah!").

Unfortunately, the dotter decided that a silver star--and associated greater length of time before getting Slinky Dog--was worth bedding down from the very beginning in the little "bed" in our bedroom.

Humph.  Smart little stinker.  I have been outwitted.  So, I guess we have to work our way through one set of silver stars, then remove the silver stars as an option.

Since the real goal was to get a full night's sleep without any tantrummy interruptions, it worked.  OmegaMom woke up fully rested this morning.  It's amazing what a difference a full night of sleep can make in one's outlook--as all new parents know.  (OmegaDad, however, did not get a full night's sleep.  This can be chalked up to two reasons:  1.  OmegaMom was heavily asleep when he came to bed, and apparently was hogging the bed.  Shameful hussy.  OmegaDad had to be satisfied with one-third of the bed, rather than a half.  2.  OmegaDad is afflicted with sleep apnea, which OmegaMom has been giving him the hairy eyeball about, and urging visits to doctors and sleep clinics.)

Alas, the tantrum, rather than being quashed entirely, was merely postponed.  I delivered a sobbing daughter to preschool this morning, having pretty much ignored the screaming and kicking from the backseat of the car, and confiscating one pen, which was thrown at the driver (me) by the tantrummer (Dotter).  The tantrum started when I took exception to the dotter not buckling herself in.  It escalated when she complained that the straps in the carseat were too tight.  It crescendoed when I ritually offered my morning little coffee for de-wrappering and shaking, thinking the ritual might calm her down, then withdrew it when it was rejected.  It reached the apex (or would that be nadir?) with the pen-throwing incident.

Picture me rolling my eyes.

Technorati:  Stickers, tantrums, parenting