Today as I asked my 4 year old to pick up his toys, he stomped his foot in protest. As harried as I have been, I didn't yell - I told him to come over to me so we could "talk". When I'd see parents do this with their children it would make me cringe because I didn't think that children that young would understand reasoning. Actually, it's when parents try to "reason" with a 2 year old who is having a full-on tantrum.
But, my son is 4 (soon to be 5) years old, wasn't throwing a full on tantrum, and actually responds better to a calm me. Trust me, CALM is not my normal state. So we had a chat where I told him that if he is upset about something that I've told him then he needs to tell me. There doesn't need to be any feet stomping or God forbid throwing of anything.
After our chat he said, "Mommy, I'm upset with you." When I asked him to tell me why he said, "because I don't want to pick up my toys." When I explained that he needed to put away the toys that he wasn't playing with anymore so that he could find them easier when he wanted to play with them later, he nodded his head and started to put away his toys.
When did they start to grow up and why does it happen so quickly!?!
Isn't it amazing what they can do when you talk to them calmly about it? Jack and Liv pick up all their toys before bedtime every night so that I don't have to do it. The only way I was able to teach them that was by reasoning with them about it. Now they do it on their own without me batting an eyelash. It's wonderful!
If it's one thing I've learned, they respond better to a calm me than anything else.
Posted by: Amy | May 23, 2009 at 09:56 PM