Last night we were in the kitchen preparing for supper and Bode kept going over to the stove and playing with the nobs that turn the burners on. "No No Bode". After this warning came out of my mouth, 6 times in 30 seconds, I picked him up. He looked me straight in the eye and slapped me in the face. It took every ounce of strength in my body not to laugh, cry and yell at the same time. I sat him on the floor, told him in a stern voice "You do NOT hit mommy" and then heard the most dramatic crying ever! He was hysterical. So I hugged him and told him that he was a good boy, he just made a bad choice. (Thanks to Brigg's words of wisdom). After he calmed down, he went right back for the stove...
I know that when is 5 and won't give up on learning to ride a bike I will be glad he has this quality. When he is 12 and won't give up on school, sports, friends, I will admire this quality and when he is a man and won't give up on doing the right things I will take credit for this quality. It is now that I will need to to learn how to properly "handle" this quality so it remains with him and doesn't drive me insane.
Any suggestions out there?
11 comments:
you are lucky that a stern voice brings him to tears. that's how brigg and nalani both were, too. i believe brigg and lani were both about 15 months when she got their first "time outs". 1 minute per year. so 1 minute for bode. it truly worked for them. every child is different though. you have to be consistent as much as he is PERsistent!! :) he's so cute though!!!
Oh I love that boy...sorry I don't have any suggestions. I just wanted to say I love him!!!!! :)
Where did you put them for time out?
I'm not a mother yet, but I DO know Bode and I bet you're thinking, "there is no way he would stay put on a chair or in a corner."
My suggestion, strap him into his high chair or that booster seat (if you end up getting one) and put him somewhere that he doesn't have anything to play with like just push the highchair against the wall or something and then leave him alone.
Again, I don't know, just a suggestion.
That is kind of what I was thinking since I know that is what Melissa does. I just don't want to use something that we use all the time that would confuse him. "Is it time to eat or am I getting punished?". Maybe we will start to use a booster seat to eat and his high chair for "time outs".
Ya, I see what you're saying. That's a good idea I think to use the booster for dinner and highchair for time outs. OR, until then, you could maybe just strap him in to his highchair and push it against the wall and not put the tray on for timeouts and then it's not like the typical position it's in while he's eating. Although, he's pretty good at concocting himself and I could see him like falling out of the highchair is the tray wasn't on! :) That's just if you didn't want to get the booster. If you get a booster, you're going to want to put the highchair away, I bet. That would be the only problem, you'd have to leave it out. I'm sure you'll figure something out. He probably won't get time out very often anyway! He's such an angel! :)
I know, that is probably the last "incident" we will ever have. He's such a fast learner! I think time outs will work on him though, he did not like me being upset with him and knew he was wrong. It was kind of pathetic.
ok girls...you are crazy!! :)
i just put them in a chair and stayed close by. there was no strapping involved. we are not discussing midevil torture!! (just kidding). you'll figure out what works. if he gets upset when you are stern with him, you will be able to tell him to stay in the chair, right? don't talk to him during it and only leave him there for one minute. make sure when he's done you tell him again, "Bode, we do not touch the stove!" THEN you can hug him or tell him you love him, or whatever after that.
only my suggestion...
midevil torture would probably work well, too!
Oh my.... you have SO much more fun ahead of you!! Why on earth would my sweet angel slap his mommy like that?!! I am surprised but know they can be oh so thoughtless as they develope. :-) What a little stinker. As long as you get the message to them that they have done wrong, they'll figure it out, or not... yikes! I will be praying for you all :-)
I would definitely go for the "midevil torture method"!
I don't think Bode would sit it a chair when he is upset without you holding him there...who knows though, you could try that method and then do the "midevil torture method" if the other method doesn't work! :)
Thanks for the suggestions, I'm sure we'll figure out what works. He's a good boy!
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