Finding Motivation

For those of you who have met our eldest daughter, you know that we have an exceptionally bright child who is gifted across the academic board. There is little that she cannot do with minimal effort. This is both wonderful for education and a nightmare, since she is also easily distracted and takes foreeeeeever to get anything done.  A couple days ago, I seem to have finally (after 4 years of trying) found the proper motivation for her to get her math lessons done. Most other subjects she is self-motivated enough to finish them. Math has been drug out for nearly 2 hours as every little noise in the house must be investigated and every philosophical question debated while solving a single division problem.  Enter the M&M and a little competition. As you can imagine, there are endless chores for me to do with 4 young children.  Shannan and I have started to "race".  Her goal is to complete her math work (correctly) before I can finish "X" chore, whether it is folding and putting away laundry, doing dishes, etc. Whoever finishes first, wins 4 M&Ms.  This has surprisingly worked very well!  I can hardly believe it, but we have had fun and laughter amid Math and chores.  Whatever it takes, right?  Chocolate provides motivation for me, and it seems for my eldest too.  Today, this is one happy mama.