The New Tactic

Okay, so after the weekend from hell with CootieGirl, yesterday after church I employed a new tactic.

BEFORE church she caused us to leave 15 minutes late for church because she fought tooth and nail over shoes. Don’t get me started. Suffice to say I was ticked by the time we left the house. After church she and I drove home while Denis and CootieBoy drove in the other car (we drove separately since Denis had kid duty at the first service). Upon arriving home I said, “We need to talk,” and she said, “I don’t want to talk.”

Okay fine.

So I sent her to her room.

“But I want to talk!” she whined.

“Nope. Too late. You said you didn’t want to talk, so we’ll talk later. To your room.”

Once she got to her room she begged for a hug, which I gave her (her love language is definitely physical touch). I then closed the door to her room.

About twenty minutes later she called down the stairs, “Can I come out now?”

“Only to go potty,” I replied. Moments later she was at the bottom of the stairs. “No, CG,” I said. “You need to go back upstairs.”

“But I’m going potty down here.”

“No you’re not.”

“But I don’t want to be upstairs anymore!”

“You should have thought of that before you disobeyed me.”

With that the new rule suddenly popped in my head.

“CG, from now on, you get ONE CHANCE to obey me. If you choose not to obey me, you go to your room for five minutes. No excuses, no crying, no whining. It’s just a fact. Five minutes for not obeying me the very first time.”

“Okay, Mama.”

I made her repeat it back to me, which she did. This way I knew she understood the new rule.

We got downstairs and proceed to have family movie time. We put on “The Lion King” and all four of us sat on the same sofa watching the movie. About halfway through she got restless and started causing problems.

“CG, sit up, please.”

She didn’t sit up.

“CG, SIT UP NOW.”

She didn’t sit up.

So I scooped her up and said, “You didn’t obey me, you are going to your room for five minutes.”

“Nnnnoooooo!!!!” she howled.

We got to her room and I gave her a hug and kiss and said, “Five minutes.” When I walked out she was calm and quiet, and after five minutes I told her she could come out. The rest of the day she behaved well.

This morning she got up chirpy and after a quick morning hug she got dressed without delay and was ready to face the day. Upon dropping her off at daycare I reminded her to be good about going potty because it was a field trip day, and she said she would. We’ll see how that goes.