I remember when Aiden was learning to walk, talk, sleep, eat, etc. Every one of those things felt like the hardest thing in the world. And all I could do was be consistent and repetitive. I am doing the same thing now. I insist on "please" with everything he asks. I refuse to cave to the "need" for candy, sugar, snacks, etc. when he hasn't eaten dinner. I do not allow him to yell, throw, or hit me without the consequence of immediate time outs and loss of privileges. Remarkably, I am becoming more resilient to these issues and I remain resolved to see to it that he is a gracious, well mannered, generous, good kid - but holy crap.
How long does it take? I keep thinking that at any time it will all click for him. How easy it is to get what he wants when he is nice and says "please." Eventually he will realize that he never gets his way when he whines right!?!? RIGHT!?! At some point a light bulb will go off and he will just automatically help me without being asked, use nice words/use words not whining period, magically put one toy away before he gets a new one out...right?!?!
hopefully we'll get more stickers soon :/
1 comment:
Oh, gosh, I can't begin to know what that feels like! I think he probably understands what you've been teaching him, but if he's seeing other kids whining and not saying please, AND getting their way with parents, teachers or others, it's probably just a bad case of "monkey see monkey do".
I'm sure eventually he'll figure out that while that little game may work on other parents and adults, he'll have to play by your rules to get what he wants at home.
I really love your sticker chart, by the way! So creative :)
Anyway, hang in there--I'm sure parenting doesn't ever get any easier, once one thing is accomplished, there's always a new stage/grade to tackle next--but you're doing awesome. I hope you can take some solace in knowing that your friends and family are rooting for you :)
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