Comments on: what is 2 exactly?

By: Vicki

Vicki — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:02:40 +0000

I feel your pain. Ashlyn is one big ball of challenge, with a soft center that shows itself randomly. Two books that helped us with Reagan were Dare To Discipline by James Dobson and Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours by Kevin Leman. We’ve gotten The Strong-Willed Child to read for Ashlyn, but yeah, it’s packed in boxes somewhere. It need to be the first thing we unpack. We’ve never done the 1-2-3 counting thing because when do they ever respond at 1?

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:08:54 +0000

By the way, he does look awfully cute curled up on the floor, with his little feet under him. Anne's last blog post..It is a baby boy!

By: Steph

Steph — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:26:41 +0000

Also, the other I have to add is to be consistent, if you say you are going to do something as punishment, then do it. And some people may disagree with this, but having your child be a little bit frightened of you and know you will mean business helps too. A certain tone of voice works well with me and a look, Andrew knows a certain look I get and he will try on his own to amend the situation with me and say he is sorry. Alex might be too young for that now, but he will get it eventually that if he does something and spends alot of time in time out or in his room, that it will get old eventually. It is really a battle of the wills that you have to win.

By: Holly

Holly — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:59:42 +0000

I think Alex has totally won my heart… which is totally going out to you right now! I have a few thousand posts just like this in 2005-2006.

Here’s the good news: it will be SO MUCH EASIER with Emily Kate because you’ll know what’s coming. (And yes, I’m sorry to say, but 3 makes 2 look like a cakewalk.) Not that 4 and 5 provide much more improvement… just more mental mindbending.

For what it’s worth, this is what helps me: giving myself a time out when I lose it (I am a screamer) and doing so clearly in front of the kids so that they know I make mistakes, too… and NOT BACKING DOWN. Will and I once had a stare-off for like an hour. I can’t even remember what it was over, but I do know that afterward he realized I was serious and it wasn’t ever an issue again. (Kate, on the other hand, doesn’t get the hint the first time and just gets creative for the next attempt.) I also go with the “three basket” approach — one basket are the things that are non-negotiable (holding an adult’s hand crossing the street, for example), the second is for negotiable things that aren’t life threatening but might not be my first choice (wearing the superman costume to school, as a real-life example); and then the third for things that really don’t matter (like maybe wearing clothes that don’t match to school). I dunno how helpful for others, but it helps me keep my personal control things in check with what is really okay for them to explore supportively, if that makes any sense.

Parenting changes considerably at around 2 1/2… it’s really about “parenting” as opposed to preventing accidentally injury. (It changes again at age 5, though I’m not exactly sure to what yet… advocacy, maybe?)

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:32:10 +0000

Perhaps it is a boy thing? I think it is the XY chromosome rearing its head trying to find out how indestructable he really is. I thank God for your blog too, I am taking notes. Anne's last blog post..It is a baby boy!

By: Steph

Steph — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:33:46 +0000

Ha ha….it is my fault. I hate to break this you, but 3 is worse. Usually once a day, I tell Andrew he will be lucky to make it 4. I call him a demon spawn and Sybil behind his back.