Arg!

I have had it with the pencil dropping!

I mean, tell me truly, must a five-year-old REALLY drop her pencil after every math problem?!

The other day, I realized that I was retrieving said pencil entirely too often (it’s a great exercise for the abs, though). Sometimes said pencil would even mysteriously DISAPPEAR! In which case, I have lovingly scurried around to find another pencil so that my student won’t lose focus! (“Hurry, hurry! I know there’s got to be a sharpened pencil around here somewhere!”)

Well, you know me. Once I recognize a bad habit, I brainstorm about some kind of healthy, character-building solution.

So, that’s when I plopped a marshmallow on the corner of our pencil-dropper’s desk and pronounced: “if you can do your whole lesson withOUT dropping your pencil, the marshmallow is all yours!”

Guess what?

It stuck!

The pencil, that is.

Mysteriously, that pencil has stayed-put like you wouldn’t believe.

Now that’s one for the parenting manuals: Marshmallow Magic!