Last week our little Monk was sick. Nothing serious. He just had a high fever for two days which made him very cuddly and sleepy. So for two days he was this sweet sweet angel that I got to cuddle and love on. Now he's not sick anymore and it's like all the naughty he was holding back being sick is coming out in concentrated doses.
He is not listening, yelling at me, saying words that are illegal in our house (stupid, hate) and throwing temper tantrums. He's normally very polite and has taken to demanding I get him this or that. It's felt very exhausting.
This little blog is about sticking to your guns. As we all know, children can turn off the naughty switch and turn on the angel switch faster than we can blink. Monk is at the age now where he remembers his behaviors, knows better and is starting to understand consequences.
Yesterday, D had a meeting out of town and we decided to go along. I took the boys to the grocery store and took them to this little bakery/deli. Monk started out by being rude in the store and yelling. When we got to the restaurant, they had these ginormous cupcakes that Monk thought were ice cream and he really wanted one. I thought, "No big deal. They're cheap, they look good." So I told him he could have one after he ate a sandwich. Right? Because you have to eat something good for you first. Well, then came the fit and stomping of the feet and after two minutes I had enough and got our food to go.
All the rest of yesterday he wanted his cupcake so bad. D was going to give it to him but I put my Mommy foot down. I told Monk that he could not have his cupcake because when we were in the store he threw a fit by screaming and stomping his feet and not listening to Mommy. So all yesterday, he did not get that stinkin cupcake. This morning he asked to eat it for breakfast and I said, "You can have it after you eat lunch if you're a good boy." And he said, "OK Mommy." YAAAAAY! He was so sweet. I felt like he learned a lesson.
I feel like I did something right in the parenting world by sticking to my guns and not moving (daddy either). I also was pretty specific when I told him how he threw a fit. I've realized lately that Monk understands better when I take the time to explain things.
I do feel some guilt because I really yelled at him the car after the store because he was being really rude. And I know that just yelling at him did nothing except make my voice ugly. So I'm going to try telling him next time, "You do not talk to Mommy like that. When you can talk to Mommy like a nice boy, I will answer you." Then I'll just ignore him until he's polite again. What's he going to do, yell? He was already doing that.
That might seem pretty cold fish next to D who's answer was to smack him in the mouth. I'm not against spankings all together, but I felt inspired and sometimes my inspirations are answers to prayers so we're going to try this new way.
PS. The cupcakes were really dry.
