As Val grows older and more cognisant of the dos and don'ts, he's also pushing the envelope more and more. He KNOWS when he shouldn't do something, but does it anyways to see how I'd react. He holds his spoon out and goes "oh no, no no no" but still flings it down with gusto. He wants to see what i'd do. These days I try all ways.... from stern warnings, to strong eye contact, to holding him back, to light smacks on the hand or the bum. Sometimes they work - especially the eye contact thing. I learnt it from the Horse Whisperer himself. (really!) But still, i think discipline's really a balancing act - how much is too much? Spare the cane and spoil the child? or smack the kid and hurt his ego? There was one night, i was frustrated with him - - he had been awake since 2pm and was still going about like a dynamo at midnight -- I shouted at him loudly. His reaction? He laughed, he giggled, he chortled even. He thought it was funny. @#$%^&&*** Parenthood - tough job
If you think about it, from his point of view, you probably DO look funny! Sometimes you wonder who's performing the clown... : )
ReplyDeleteAiyoh - I know exactly what you mean. I'm trying not to say NO too often, and Ruby will always look at me before she does anything that she knows she's not supposed to.
ReplyDeleteAlso, she's become quite a yeller, especially when I have to take her away from whatever fun she's having... like we have to leave a playground.
:-) i've found that giving time for Val to "wind down" an activity helps e.g. giving him some warning that time will be up soon, and for him to wave bye bye e.g. to the bath tub, to the playground etc. it seems to help him better this way
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