phillbecker

My almost 7 y.o. is in first grade. At the parent/teacher conference, my wife told the teacher that bribes and potential consequences don’t really affect Eddy. He won’t perform better just to get a reward. He’ll act the way HE wants to. And the THREAT of losing something doesn’t work unless it’s something really important. So my wife said “go ahead, try another sticker chart (for good behavior) or your reward system, but you have our permission to put him in time out if you need to.”

The class gets “pennies” for good behavior. Every friday they can buy little prizes for at least 10, or save them up for an auction with bigger prizes. We called them “bonus cards” when I was in school. Same idea. Good behavior +points. Bad -points/pennies. She has another system where students can reward each other for good deeds witnessed. ie. Johnny sees Kimmy do something nice for someone, so Johnny puts Kimmy’s name in the good deed jar. Names are drawn every so often and they get prized too.

so, where do you think this is going?

Teacher: Eddy had a good day monday. 2 stickers. Tuesday morning was good, but that afternoon he offered another classmate reward pennies to put his name in the good deed jar.”

HA HA. He was following her example of bribery. Now, he never broke a rule. She never said you couldn’t do it. I can’t get mad at him for testing a flawed system and checking for loopholes and weaknesses. I did say “If you knew it was wrong and did it anyway, that’s not good. But if you were just pushing boundaries … I can’t get mad for that.” He ended up losing the pennies and the nomination.

Obviously it’s been a little while since I’ve updated this. Sorry. Tim has grown up a lot, topping 25 pounds at 9 months. Eddy and Ruth are brilliant and beautiful.

And dangerous when armed…

(I’ll get that video up soonish. Too big right now.)

being chased out the door. update later

Timothy Craig Becker
Born 11/02/08 8:06pm
Weight: 7 lb 15.5 oz
Length: 22 in

Everyone is well and fine, thanks. He’s eating fine and getting a routine… mostly nurse, sleep, scream, nurse, scream, nurse, sleep repeat.
Both Ruth & Eddy are adjusting well and treat him very carefully and are super sweet with him. The pets didn’t blink.

I tried to register a domain name for him, but apparently “Timothy Craig” is a country singer and already has the domain. I’ll figure something out.

More pictures will come as I get the photo gallery program working again, and upload them to the right place.

Now, to plan Eddy’s birthday party…

CWC is a wildlife rescue facility near State College. I’ve volunteered with them a bit over the years, and helped out with the website from time to time.

They send out frequent email messages regarding wildlife, but not always CWC related. So I’m experimenting with blogging the messages automatically. I’m still trying to convince them that this would create a better record of the actions they take and promote in the name of wildlife.

Look for posts in the category “Wildlife Rehab”

The Assassin bug, or wheel bug, is a not-uncommon visitor around woody areas.

Last fall I found one laying a cluster of eggs on a branch in the front yard.

But today, I was out and just happened to check the eggs …

BABIES!!!