I have almost 8 year old fraternal triplet girls, a two year old daughter, and a 10 week old son. The triplets ("the girls" as we call them)are in different 2nd grade classes.

My husband and I are being driven to mental exhaustion by the triplets. They are extremely loud, run around the house, and do a lot of wrestle play. They also have to have everything repeated and reinforced too many times. When wrestle play begins, I warn them that if someone comes to me crying about getting hurt, I will send all parties to their rooms. Lately, the two year old is also getting in on the act. It is like having a girls slumber party 24/7! We also have to repeatedly lead them back to their room at bedtime. It takes an hour to get them in bed. They always get out with some excuse.

We use a reward system where they earn "points" on a card for household chores. When they card is filled up, they get $5. However, this is a reward system for work around the house, not behavior. One of them complies a majority of the time and is not really an issue. Another one will work for treat rewards fairly well, though I don't like giving food rewards. There are really two that are much more difficult than the other one.

One has been increasingly difficult to manage at home. Reward and consequence systems have little affect on her. There is no reward that we have come up with that she cares enough about to work for. We have discussed this with her, she comes up with a suggestion, but immmediately does not do what she's supposed to to. For instance, we were working on her going to bed on time. She said she wanted to work for a Hershey's candy bar. She looses it the first night, which obviously doesn't help for the other nights. We have tried all kinds of things, but she will say she doesn't care. She also doesn't work for the money I mentioned above. I have stopped buying toys for them (except birthday/Christmas), they have to use their money.

This child is a perfectionist. She has struggled in reading, but she is very bright. Huge vocabulary. Good math sense. But she gives up as soon as she has any struggle. She also has to do things in order. In her homework she won't skip and come back. In a "find a picture" puzzle, she has to find the pictures in the order they are listed. She takes forever to get ready to go to school. Lately she has been talking back to me and mimicking me. She will get one warning and go to her room. Doesn't seem to make a difference. I police the door because she plays games about getting out. We were seeing a counselor, but her suggestions were ones I had already tried.

These have been ongoing problems prior to the youngest 2 being born.

Lately, the physical situation has been getting out of hand. The one mentioned above has physically threatened with objects held over her head, and one time had scissors in her hand!

The girls do get one-on-one time with us on a weekly schedule, but it works out to only 1 night every 3 weeks.