Yesterday it dawned on me, somewhere in the past 2 weeks, Olivia has gained way too much control in this mother/daugther relationship and today is the day I'm taking back my rightful spot as boss around here.
I realized it when for the 10th time yesterday she downright got my goat and when I had a vision run through my head of choking her, I thought I'd better do something to get back into lead dog position-- and soon.
I'm not sure how it happened really. I think this is common to most parents with 2 and 3 year olds, but this was NEVER going to happen to me. I mean I have boundaries, I've seen empty threats in the check out lines, for crying out loud- I watch SuperNanny every Friday night! My kids wern't going to eat hot dogs, watch videos in the car and they certainly wern't going to get me to cook 3 different meals at the same time. Ummm... check check and check. Ooops. I was certainly a better parent before I had kids.
I woke up bound and determined- a woman on a mission. O asked for rice krispies, by golly she got rice krispies. When the request changed to a bagel as she stared into the cereal bowl w/o a bite being taken, I invincibly said, "Not today little girl. This is a new day! The free ride ends here! Eat your rice krispies and if you don't- don't ask me for a snack in the car." So far so good.
On the way home from where we were this morning, she almost got me as she asked for her bag of cheerios that was on the floor. But I remembered the promise- no snacks in the car. The one request turned into 5 other ones w/ whining and crying to match. But I stood my ground. So we are 6 hours into the ground taking, it's painful but worth it.
I'll let you know how it all turns out. This tough love thing is brutal!!! Let's just hope softy daddy can stick to it too~~ to be continued.
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3 comments:
oh man, that's soooo my life with sadie. how do we end up being pushed around by these little girls? good foryou taking back control! keep it up. it's worth it. i'm having to reteach sadie to not interrupt me all the time when i'm talking to other adults. today i told her just a minute then she just started saying "excuse me" over and over while i was talking b/c i told her that she had to say that if she wanted to tell me somthing important. she thinks it's all imprtant
same with me and winston!! i sometimes joke around and call him big boss, or 'my lord' ah and when i tell him 'im the mom, so im in charge' he says 'no, im the mom, im in charge' AGH! somedays i laugh, some days i try to take charge, guess some consistency would help. but, oh well. as my friend karri house says ... most kids turn out okay, so don't stress too much. :)
Judging from above comments both you and Olivia have tons of company. Should comfort you on lots of levels. Maybe I should recommend a book I know about to them as well.
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