It worked!  It worked!  Today, my strong willed child got dressed after swimming lessons without crying and without a fight!  He has been asking for some of his stuff back all week and we kept telling him that he has to wait because he has to show us that he can get dressed without crying after swimming lessons.  He kept reassuring us that he would and wanting his stuff back right away!  We didn’t budge (even though he can be very persuasive and very cute)!  Today when we got to swimming lessons, I pulled his new shoes out of the bag and asked him how he would be able to earn them back.  He told me that he would get dressed and not cry!  Before he got in the water, I reminded him that he would probably be cold when he got out but that he would still have to get dressed without crying.

When swimming lessons were over, he got out of the pool, walked into the locker room (he had to potty, so we stopped there first).  We headed to the locker and I praised him all the way for not whining or complaining about being cold.  He told me that he was a big boy and that we was going to be able to wear his new shoes!  I set his clothes out for him and he started acting like he might start whining, so I reminded him that boys who get dressed without crying get to wear super cool shoes!  He took a minute and then asked me very politely to help him take his swim suit off because it was stuck!  I said that I would love to help him since he asked so nicely!  He then proceeded to get dressed without any complaining at all!  I did not have to threaten him or even raise my voice!  I was so proud of him I had to hold back tears (not to mention, a little proud of myself too because all the hard work was paying off)!  I walked out of the locker room feeling like I had forgotten something, I just felt so much lighter from a lack of stress that it felt odd!  We got the other two children and off to the car we went!  I was thinking that we did it, when my two year old decided that she wasn’t going to walk and sat in the middle of the grass!  (Oh, no, maybe it’s not possible to get out of here without wanting to pull my hair out!)  I put the baby in the car and had my other child strap himself into the car seat as he reminded me that he gets his baby bear back when we got home.  By the time he was done talking my two year old had decided to join us and was crawling into the car!  So, mission accomplished!  We went to swimming lessons and left without me having a headache, raising my voice, and being embarrassed!  Persistence pays off!!

What is one of your victory stories?