Have a White Day

W's school has implemented a new disciplinary system (good luck, I say). It goes like this. Each child starts the day with a "White" card. If they get one verbal warning for misbehavior they have to change the White card to Green. After Green comes Yellow with a 2 minute in-class time out. Then Red. Ooooh, Red is bad. With a Red card comes a note home written by the student explaining their "poor behavior choices" that must be read and signed and returned by a parent. And then, the very worst: Blue. Blue means "you blew it". It also means all the other warnings plus the worst punishment a second grader could have: you must stay in for recess and do extra homework!!! Dun Dun! So the teachers explained the concept to the kids and then they had a practice week. W proudly told me he "only made it to Blue twice". Umm, good for you? So on the real week we cheered him on and wrote notes in his lunch box: "Have a White Day today" and "You can get a White card today, I know it!" Day One: White Card=success! Day 2: Red Card=sad boy and sad mommy (I also made him write a note of apology to the teacher for his "disrepect" which is what came home in the note). So let's up the ante. Every day you get a White card, I will pay you $1. This works. Really well. Because now, at home, if he starts to misbehave, I threaten to take away the $1 he earned for his White card. And I'm noticing a lot less arguing about things. I think I like this card system! Of course, I had to add some really dire consequences for Red and Blue cards, like an extra page of writing homework (shudder!) and cleaning up for 1 hour (the horror!). So last week, after the Red card, he got White for the rest of the week and we were so proud of him. I asked him how he did it and this was the response: "You know mommy, it's actually pretty easy to get a white card. I just have to do what they tell me." Smack the forehead. Duh! He just figured that out, can you believe it? How has this kid gotten through 8 years in life and 3 years of school not knowing that you're supposed to do what adults tell you? I can tell I'm in for a fun time with this one.....