Consistency, consistency

If as a parent you think you've got it figured out, wait a couple of hours (or minutes as the case may be). This morning I was so pleased because I came up with a fun way to get the boys to listen to conference, and it was actually working! I made a list of words commonly heard in conference (Book of Mormon, Temple, Prayer, Family etc.). Each boy got his own copy and was told to make a tally mark next to the word whenever they heard it. When the tallies totaled 5 they were able to pick out a small piece of candy. If at the end of a talk they had also "taken notes" or drawn a picture, then they could have three additional pieces of candy (think small here, gumdrops, candy corn, etc.). I can't say it was any less distracting, or that I got more out of conference than I usually do when small children are concerned, but at least they were saying things like "I heard temple. Prayer! Obey! Temple!", Look mom I drew a picture". "They said Jesus Christ 45 times!" Instead of "Why do we have to watch this. This is boring. When is this going to be over. Do we have to?", so for me it was a success. And then the afternoon session came along. We gave the boys the option of watching with us, or listening on the radio while they played in the playroom. They of course chose the toy room. and they of course did not spend the entire time running and playing tag throughout the whole house, as the echoing stomping above our heads attested to.Or running up and down the stairs and in and out of the Family room making little brothers cry while we were trying to pay attention. Oh well. I guess it's nice to have room for improvement :) Thank you Elder Bednar for your encouragement "consistency is the key.... consistency is the key...".