School Clothes Shopping Bribe

On_Call

New Member
difficult child HATES clothes shopping. Hates it. He complains, whines, drags his feet, etc. Then, in an attempt to get over it, he goes to the opposite extreme - pretending to be a model on a runway - sticking out his behind and shaking it for me when I ask him to turn around to see how the jeans fit and to check their length.

Today happens to be our day to do back to school shopping and he has complained about it all week. Then, yesterday, he asks if he can play the Crane game in the mall - he said he will try very hard to be appropriate while shopping for clothes if he knows he can spend at least $1.00 on that game. On one hand, that game is totally rigged - I know I put a thread on about it a while ago and we discussed that fact - and difficult child knows it, too, but on the other hand . . .

Can you imagine? If I had known all it would take was $1.00 and the Crane Game - I would've started saving up my quarters years ago!! :rofl:

I'll let you know how it works out!!

Have you all already been through this annual rite of torture??
 

Sara PA

New Member
What is it with guys and that game? My son loves it. My 60 year old boss has a box full of stuffed animals he got out of it.

Son and I were out having some fun just yesterday and he dropped $3 in one of those things (though $1 was so I could try it). We didn't win anything and I failed to see the charm. Just as we were leaving a little three year old came up and stared at the game with wide eyes. Then I was sorry my son hadn't gotten anything because he would have given it to her.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
My kids all call that the "sucker" game :wink:

I don't think that's an unreasonable bribe/reward. On the condition that he only gets to play the game AFTER the shopping errand has been completed!

We frequently use incentives in our house as a reinforcer for expected behaviors -- in my day, my parents weren't so nice about these things, but then, I wasn't a difficult child AND I now have ISSUES of my own! :crazy:
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I hope it works out for you. Wouldn't it have been nice for difficult child to inform you that this would've worked years ago?? :rofl:

The Crane Game can't be too rigged. Nichole wins everytime she plays. I had to tell her to stop playing cuz of all the junk she was bringing home. Last time it was a cell phone no one needed and we're going to sell in the yard sale. :slap:
 

Janna

New Member
SO's son is obsessed with the crane games. They have them there, right in the foyer, at Wal Mart. Grrrrrrrrrrr! My kids, they don't care, but they like the car video games.

I bribe my kids all the time. When you do behavior mod, they call these bribes "reinforcers". Artsy fartsy, eh?

I have not one ounce of guilt in offering something to any of my children that is going to bribe them into being good somewhere like that, for instance, in public. And really, if they were really good, above and beyond my expectations, I'd give em more money for the game.

Curious to know how it turns out, Jamie. Good luck.
 

mrscatinthehat

Seussical
Went through the torture with easy child earlier this week and difficult child 1 yesterday. easy child hates to shop for clothes (with me because I require trying them on) and she is a girl. difficult child 1 loves to shop but again we had the battle of the dressing room. She beleives (wrongly) she is one size and she is two sizes larger. However once we get past that she is ok. So we survived. We don't take difficult child 2 out to shop. I buy take it to him and he wears it. No choices no options. Hope your day works. There is nothing wrong with the crane reinforcement method.

Beth
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
Personally, I measure the waist, I measure the inseam, I measure
anything and everything I can figure out to measure and then I
go shopping with-o difficult child. Mostly he wears jeans so I buy (using a credit card) a pair or two of each brand that "seems" to be his
size. I go straight home and demand he gets in his BVD's and
try on jeans. Once I find a pair that he likes...it's over. I
go back, swap the others for the same ones that fit/and he likes.
Pants shopping is over. Shirts are much easier. Shoulder to
shoulder, shoulder to bottom hem. Aha! We are ready for school
and we have NO meltdowns anymore. DDD
 

SRL

Active Member
I rarely take any kids shopping. Like DDD I make my closest guess and then either purchase locally or shop online. Once I find something that works I go back or order more. I can do Land's End returns for free at Sear's store so it's not so expensive when I miss. All of my kiddos have wide or extra wide feet so they have to come for shoes but that's definitely easier than getting them to try on clothes.

My 14 year old is hardest to fit so occasionally I do need to take him. My daughter loves clothes and doesn't care if they come from the thrift shop as long as she has cute things and lots of variety. difficult child likes consistency so once I find something that works I buy multiples.
 

mum2JK&TH

New Member
I FINALLY got difficult child out for school shopping today after the same whining and complaining. He says this morning "Mum, do i have to go? I wear a size 4 or 5 shoe, you can guess can't you?" We went to the first store and he was a total pain in the patootie, so we left there. I went in to a store to find him a cool shirt and many dollars later, and the same modelling Jamie that your difficult child does, he is obsessed! I didn't know that this store (I don't know if you have West 49 in the States) has a youth section. He loved this store, we had to drag him out. I seem to have created a monster.

I'll see if I can post his picture, this is from today showing off his some of his stuff
Jay's new stuff
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Very seldom do we take difficult child shopping for clothes. He loves it-we hate it. Let's just say he is even more of a difficult child when shopping. The worst for him is shoe shopping which we have to take him.

We do take him school supply shopping though because he knows he only gets what is on the list.

As for bribery-go for it! We use it often!
 

On_Call

New Member
Oh believe me, I have absolutely <u>NO</u> problem using a 'bribe' - it's just that usually it ends up being a much more expensive bribe - such as a new dvd or game for the DS.

I have to say that as far as school shopping goes, yesterday was not all that bad. difficult child did wiggle his behind for me once - in a pair of jeans that I had him try on for reference that would have fallen off if he had wiggled with any more enthusiasm :D. And he did complain when we were trying to find sneakers because he is now a size 6 (bordering on men's sizes) and still insists on wraparound velcro or those elastic-type shoe laces so he doesn't have to tie them.

And, to top it all off, when we got to the Crane at the end of our excursion, there was nothing in it that he wanted to spend his money trying to win - and it was OKAY!!! Can you believe it? I know I had a hard time believing it.

easy child gave us more gripe than difficult child did. Jeesh.

I have to add that I, too, am immune to the allure of the Crane game - although it has enough fans to keep them in business forever, that's for sure. husband's stepmom wins everytime, too. Scary. I guess you've either 'got it' or you don't!! :wink:
 
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