I am a firm believer in following through. If a threat or consequence has been put out there, we have to go through with it. It sucks.
But, before we get to why that matters, a little back story...
Today we went to the New Hamburg Fall Fair. It was such a beautiful fall day out (yes I know it's technically still summer, but.. no.. it's fall) and they had a demolition derby there today at 2pm. Both the kids had such a blast last weekend at the Cambridge Fall Fair and demolition derby, so I thought I'd take them to this one. Plus, they were free today, so that helped. :)
The kids have hit big 'ride' milestones this summer. Alexandria has grown past 42" and Zach has reached the magical 36" mark. He was SO happy to be able to go on the roller coaster with just his sister - and not Mommy! They also went on one of those spinny rides. Just them. Very weird for Mommy to watch! (But a lot cheaper!!) It was a cross between the two pictures below. It had "solid" doors like the apple ride picture, but was animals - a penguin, bear, elephant and something else - like the other picture. The kids picked the penguin.
Alexandria had a very grown-up moment. There were 8 tickets left. Enough for the two of them to go on the roller coaster (3 tickets each). Problem was, there would be only 2 tickets left. Only enough for one of them to go one another ride. Zach had been asking to go back on a car ride they'd both been on. She agreed to let him go on the extra ride. With nothing in return or exchange! Awesome.
I let the kids play one game. It was a fishing game and they each 'won' a dolphin. Alex named hers 'Daisy' and Zach named his 'Poopy'. (First it was 'Teddy', but what kind of name is 'Teddy' for a dolphin!? Apparently 'Poopy' is much better.) Zach and Alex were very proud of their winnings.
Fast forward to home. Zach was being Zach when Zach gets tired and overstimulated. His listening had pretty much gone out the window. He was misbehaving and was told that if he did "x" again, his dolphin would be taken away and put into the box to give to other kids. As soon as that threat was out there, I regretted it. But, it was out there.... Well... he did "x" again.
Dolphin had to go bye-bye. Sadness ensued - Zach's and Mommy's. We continued on through the bedtime routine. Zach came up with lots of arguments about why he needed his dolphin, "But I can't sleep without it!!" (Remember, he just got the dolphin today.) :)
After a few minutes of sadness, I consulted with Daddy about an idea I had to remedy the situation and still (kind of) stick to the original consequence. Zach could get 'Poopy' back, but in order to do so, he would have to pick another stuffy to put in the box. He chose to do that. He is now sleeping with his new dolphin friend. And *I think* we came out ok... Or did I completely waffle?
Sunday 19 September 2010
blog comments powered by Disqus