What is the deal with 3 year olds and pushing their boundaries. It has been a long 6 days (I know that's not very long) we have had many time outs, lots of stern talking that slowly turns into REALLY LOUD stern talking and a few tears... mostly mine.
I mean my child actually smiles at me while I am trying to discipline him like he is mocking me... I am trying not to take it personally... I mean he is 3 right??? But oh man I am constantly reminding myself that I am the adult and not a child too and that I need to handle all situations calmly until I can find a quiet space where I can yell and stomp my feet in frustration. It is times like these that I am in awe of my parents and want to call my mom up on the phone and ask is this "PAY BACK or I am soooo SORRY".
My Mom was visiting us this weekend when alot of the " I am not listening" behavior took place. During a time out I looked at my mom and asked "what is the deal?"
My mom said "weeellll you do have a lot of patience with him.... I didn't have time to give you guys 3 chances it was listen to me the first time or deal with the consequence..."
In other words stop being lazy and stop your child's misbehaviour right away. Thank you MOM!!
So guess how yesterday went..
we had 3 time outs that were given right when the misbehaviour started at dinner but dinner was finally eaten while sitting at the table properly (that is a WIN) and today we only had 2 time outs and all in all I have to say it was a good day.
LOVE him to bits
Parenting is a tough job and sometimes we all need to ask for help, its OK if things are not going perfectly because I can pretty much guarantee that another parent is going through the same thing. So remember to ask for help because someone else might have a little tip that will ease your day!
XOXO
A
oh boy do I feel your pain here. When T started putting herself in time out I realized that I had lost all the power.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your mum though...our parents laid down the law a lot faster and we knew (as kids) where we stood at any given time.
following through and staying consistent are the only things that seem to work for us now. If you make a threat like taking away a privilege or leaving a place early you need to follow through. Man is that hard sometimes...on the parents!
good luck...and know that you are SO not alone in what you are going through.