This is the most frequent fight that occurs at our house now.
Grace: "This is my little brother."
Jacob: "No, he is my little brother too!!!!"
Grace: "No, he is MY BROTHER."
(Then Grace starts to chase after Jacob.)
I will NOT insert the gory details here.
Mommy: "Grace, now why are you in time out?"
Grace has seen time out so much with her older brother that it's hard for
Grace to take time out seriously. Any suggestions?
6 comments:
I have had that very same struggle with Madisen. Only she's 7. She has kept me on my toes. Starting at 16 months old. She is a very strong willed child. All I can say is good luck, and maybe change where time out is and how long it is. Also, maybe take something else away instead of doing time out. Who knows, what works for one doesn't always work for the other.
We have the same problem--Matt & Afton love Halle too much. They still fight over who gets to hold/carry her. Now, though, she's fighting back and telling them to back off!
We do a variety of things--time out, favorite toy in time out, rewarding good behavior, having them make choices.
Sorry Ruth Ann, can't help you there! Lately, we've resorted to threats for their life!...just kidding. But if you want to know my serious advice, we took a BYU parenting counseling session when we were there (David was being horrible after Eli was born). They taught that when children act up, no matter the age (teens included), the best way to deal with it is indirectly, by strengthening your relation of love and friendship. Then they intuitively don't want to make you unhappy with them. This is done by spending 15 minutes of one on one time of playtime with them (they get to direct what you do and how you do it) everyday for a while.
My realistic self says it's good to strengthen your relationship with them by speding time with them, but with a new baby as a total of three?.. you do what you can do.
On a different topic. I'm sorry we've been playing phone tag. Hopefully we'll catch up to eachother soon. I hope you had fun with your Mom out. Hope to talk to you soon, Bethany
My kids still have that same fight. They also fight over "That's my mommy" "No my mommy" etc. Fun stuff!
Josh doesn't take time out seriously at all. He doesn't take anything seriously, actually. I'm just learning that patience really is a virtue and it comes through a lot, lot, lot of practice.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were a simple answer to that question. Each child brings with him/her a multitude of new challanges for we as parents. Since I have no helpful advice, I think I will just stare at your BEAUTIFUL new baby. He is adorable!!!
good luck with that one. the older my kids get, the more i realize how little i know about parenting. good thing they are cute!:)
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