Pavlov's Dogs

If you have spent anytime in school, you have likely heard of the scientist called Pavlov and his experiment with dogs. He rings a bell...gives his dogs a treat. He repeats this over and over until all he has to do is ring a bell, and the dogs would automatically drool. What is to be learned from this, who knows? I am, though, using these techniques with my kids...though not so much on the drooling. I am training my kids with sounds from my iPhone and it works BEAUTIFULLY!

If you happen to possess an iPhone, or, I presume, any smart phone, than you likely have a feature to set alarms. You can set multiple alarms and assign each alarm with any number of sounds. I have gotten to where I have set several alarms on my phone daily and each one has a specific sound and the kids know what the sound means. It's great!!!

For instance, bed time. Bed time would be a chore (not a hard chore, but a chore none the less). Maybe we would get into a movie or something and next thing you know it's after 9:00 which is a bit too late for my son on a school night. Or, maybe we would get started on bedtime routines too early and be left with time to spare. Now, I have an alarm set for 8:15 on my phone. The sound for this alarm is crickets. When Daniel hears this sound, he knows he has 15 minutes to get ready for bed...and be in bed by 8:30. I have one set for Sierra for 9:15. Daniel will often complain, but he knows there is no argument. The time is the same each night.

I also find myself forgetting to have Daniel wear his patch everyday. I am VERY forgetful about a great many things, but Daniel's eyes are very important to me. I have a "boing" sound that goes off every afternoon at 1:00. Daniel hears the sound and instantly begins to groan (he hates the patch), but at least he knows it's coming.

For Sierra, I have an alarm set for her to wear her headgear during the day...it's a duck quacking. lol I am not sure why I chose that sound, but I know when the duck quacks, it's time to put on the gear (she wears it at night, but often it does not make it through the night and she needs to supplement her night wear with day wear).

Daniel likes to take breaks during the day and so I will often set a timer for him (he loves it....he gets crouched down and we do the "on your mark, get set, GO") for him. When he hears the trill, he knows break time is over.

Sierra has started setting alarms on her iPhone that alert her to things like, putting in her braces bands or break times or start working on a report, etc. She could be in another room, but when she hears a particular sound she registers it as time for this specific thing.

It's great!! I love that my kids can hear a sound and know what it means and their response to it. They might not like it (bedtime alarms), but the do not dispute it. They may not drool when they hear the tone, but they do respond.