So we are fans of bribery. It can be useful and when used appropriately it can work wonders. People are always so amazed that we can bring Rowan to any yoga class anywhere in the world and she can easily entertain herself for 2 hours. Well, we trained her like you would a puppy for years starting at around 2 1/2. I would bring her to yoga with me and set her up on a mat next to me with a bag of toys and crayons and tell her that she had to play by herself and not talk to mommy while I was doing yoga. And then I would give the bribe – if you can do this then we will go to a cafe afterwards and you can have a treat. At first she could go for maybe 30 -45 minutes without disruption and then she would slowly make her way onto my mat and then the talking would start. But overtime she was able to spend more and more time on her own mat quietly until she eventually can do a whole 2 hour block of Mysore. Over time I also started weaning out the bribes too.

Now I use bribes for bigger things. Like Tokyo. Rowan has to do a lot of things on this trip that are not her idea of fun. She has to go with me to yoga every morning – which also involved a 10-15 minute walk to the train station – and she will often have to accompany us on different outings with yoga students or things that she would rather not do. Before the trip I told her that if she could get through the parts of the trip she doesn’t particularly want to do without any whining or negativity then at the end of the trip we would take her to either Tokyo Disney OR Sanrio Puro Land (Hello Kitty Land). Yes, bribery also means that sometimes you have to suffer a bit as well. Jason in particular is not relishing being hit over the head with the cute-stick at Hello Kitty Land again, nor is he looking forward to all that awaits him at the Magic Kingdom.   At this moment in time I think Rowan is leaning towards Tokyo Disney, but if you know Rowan you know that she always has decision regret and will change her mind 50 times before we go.

So far the bribe is working.  Rowan is motivated.  She also is pretty easy at this age for the most part.  So the likelihood that we will be at one or the other is pretty high.  Cuteness awaits us – just not sure where, but I will keep you posted.