Warning! This post is about Christmas, Santa, and that pesky Elf on the Shelf. If you’ve still got Halloween decorations up, you may want to move along and hold on for a few more weeks until we can get Thanksgiving out of the way.
So, along with the time-change this year, behavior problems seemed to rear their ugly heads at my house. It happened last year at school around this time, and we’re having trouble again. My sweet Piggy One is a precious, highly sensitive child who unfortunately loses it when he feels out of control. This tends to happen a lot when he’s sick or tired. As luck would have it, he’s not a great sleeper. You can guess how fun it’s been around here the past few weeks, especially after having to pick Piggy up from school in loads of trouble.
After lots of talking, and many days without TV or iPad time, I decided that I needed to pull out the big guns. Piggy One is ALL about parties, celebrations…basically any reason that requires mom to make a cake or cookies. He’s especially fond of presents (as most 3 year olds). I wasn’t quite ready for the full blown Elf on the Shelf hoopla just yet, but I did need some back-up from the man in red.
Last year we had our first Elf breakfast. It was great fun and both Piggies really got into it. Our Elf was a bit boring, and thankfully Santa didn’t give us a naughty elf. Ours just moved occasionally when Mom remembered, and from time to time did something a little special. Mostly he was another set of eyes for Mom and Dad to fall back on.
So, because our Elf is still packed away in the attic, I needed a back up plan. Last year I made this cute little “naughty/nice” picture frame thing that I found over at Clean Scentsible. You can see it in the black frame at the far end of the table. I had printed it off and knew I would be re-using them this year, so I wanted to coordinate whatever I was going to do with this printable. I wanted something quick and easy to help me keep track of good behavior, as well as naughty. A simple sticker chart would do the trick. Here’s what I came up with:
You can download it for free here: Santa’s Behavior Monitoring Chart or by clicking on the picture above. As always, it is free to use, we just ask that you give credit where credit is due.
The background comes from Mel Stampz. The clipart was free clipart found online.
We’re about to head out the door to pick up Piggy One from school. I showed him the new chart that Santa sent this morning at breakfast. Here’s hoping that it had an impact! (Please have a smiley face! PLEASE have a smiley face!)
Enjoy!
Heather
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