Sunday, February 19, 2012

Perspective

Two years ago: When my child is two, I will speak in a positive manner and not threaten him!  No, I will say, you need to do X before Y can happen.

Two days ago: I will offer two chances for a positive statement and THEN I will threaten my toddler with the consequence.  "Do X, or Y will happen."

Today: I will not slap my toddler.  I will not slap my toddler.  I will not slap my toddler.  Is 8 AM too early for a drink?

(He's in his crib, 'calming down'.  I am in the living room.  Nobody has been slapped, except for me.)

P.S.  I have come up with a sure-fire parenting technique to reduce conflict with an almost-three-year-old. If I never ask him to do anything, we will not have conflicts!  Unfortunately, the inverse is true: If I ever ask him to do anything, we will have conflicts.

10 comments:

  1. Oh man, I hope the rest of the day goes a bit better!!

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  2. my motto: having a baby means never drinking alone.

    it is always five o'clock somewhere.

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  3. Anonymous4:24 PM

    Yes! What is this about? I had heard that three was such a "wonderful, helpful" age. Is a magical transformation really just around the corner?

    In my house, it is not only requests that result in conflict, but also merely making statements. Witness:

    Me: "Hey, this book says that rabbits like to eat greens!"
    Him: "No! They eat cookies!"

    Me: "I see you've decided to make a five car train."
    Him: "I did not! It is TWENTY cars!"

    Me: "Oh, you have your animals all lined up!"
    Him: "No! NOOOOO!" [breaks into sobs]

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  4. This too shall pass....

    Sending good thoughts.

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  5. It has been one of those days, hasn't it? I hope the rest of the day went better, perhaps after nap time :) If it makes you feel any better, I've been there. Take care of yourself, and definitely let toddler chill out in his crib sometimes!

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  6. Deeeep breath. Hey, everyone's asleep now! By which I mean all the small children.

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  7. I don't know if you've seen this already, but it's extremely appropriate. http://momastery.com/blog/2012/01/04/2011-lesson-2-dont-carpe-diem/

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  8. I can relate so much! Sometimes the 2 and 3 year olds take all our patience. All those people that think "this will never be me with the toddler screaming in the supermarket because he's not allowed a chocolate bar" have not had children, or are the odd ones that have had angels and not children.

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  9. Anonymous12:38 PM

    I was so wise about parenting (and full of patience, and creative ideas on how to help them blossom)....before I actually had kids! Suddenly, it was much harder than I thought.
    --Neighbor Lady
    p.s. 3 is tough, but I can tell you that 10 and 7 are truly awesome ages. hang in there!

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