Parenting.....It's in the Game

Oh no....that's EA Sports....anyway....wouldn't it be much easier if they had a Play Station game that you could run through different parenting skills BEFORE you totally screwed up your kids?

You here that EA Sports?  Now get on it...and btw....I would like some profit sharing on that bad boy.

We seem to have hit a sort of, as I like to pleasantly refer to it, a plateau.  It seems as if our parenting tactics are being questioned by a certain couple children who have figured out that we don't always follow through.  Call it laziness, or maybe it's just cause nothing works, but they have called us out and we need to reign them back in.  But how? 

J Boy's favorite riot act is the tantrum.  He will throw himself on the ground and kick, scream, roll around, and scream some more.  This usually goes on for quite some time.  Last night I was waiting for his head to explode but it seems as if he knows his limit and suddenly stops.  Try to ignore him you might suggest?  Good luck, cause if he senses fear he will roll on over to you and pick a weapon.  Is it his nails, teeth, flat handed slap on the butt. One never knows, but one better watch out. 
Poor Big Daddy...he can't move quickly so he bears the brunt at this point. Serves him right, ha!

J Girl's?  Well she likes to enlist the help of her sassy mouth.  That child has a vocabulary that will put a trucker to shame, yet she says these things so eloquently.  For example, if I tell her no, her current answer is "You punk!" while smiling and tossing her hair as if the actions will somehow deafen me of what I just heard come from her mouth. 

Now put that together and what we have here is mutiny.  Give them eye patches and swords and we could be walking the plank very soon. 

So please, help me......by passing on your best parenting tips......or your best Nanny....whichever you feel is appropriate.

   

Comments

[Rachel]

See as Caleb is right in between them in ages, I'm getting a combo of the two behaviors. Most of the angry tantrums have been replaced with whiny ones (I'm not sure which are worse!) and the sassy backtalk is also in play. I think sometimes you just have to keep being consistent with the discipline style of choice and hope they outgrow it and/or finally heed your warnings to keep the behavior in check! Testing the waters, testing the waters. But I know sometimes you think if you hear one more smart comment, you're just gonna throw em in the water! lol