Lately my youngest is ridiculously difficult. Tantrums, frustration, and yes, anger. Most of the challenges seem to be a lack of communication. It’s almost like he doesn’t understand the meaning of simple words, yet words that change the entire meaning of what we are saying. For example: I’ll tell him he CAN have a granola bar and he flips out screaming that he WANTS one. Or I’ll ask if he wants something and he’ll say NO, when in all actuality he DOES. Oi vey, I need a beach to sit and stare on for awhile. The daily routine here is making me feel as if we are both going crazy!
Last night we had a huge eye-opener. We kept asking Bean to “eat one peach(slice) and then you can be finished with supper”. He kept bucking and bucking us. So what does a good, consistent parent do? Calmly, and unshakeably reminds him to have one more peach. This went on for a good 15 minutes. Finally, Bean looked at his Dad (who had just repeated the routine for the umpteenth time) and asked “Dad…which one is my peach? Where is it?”
He didn’t know what his peach WAS! After his Daddy pointed it out, he ate it up in a jiffy. The night went on. As parents, we were floored.
How often do situations like this happen? Not only with my 3 year old Bean, but perhaps the older ones? Or we could go Seminary Object Lesson and pontificate on how many millions of situations could this be happening?
Huge lesson. Duly noted.
John told me about that. Poor kid.