Ok, so I made a decision last night that I would not take Lilly to any of her activities for at least a week (no school tomorrow and no music next week). Instead I am taking her with a friend to Pump It Up tomorrow - huge indoor inflatable slides and jumping thingys. I think it's right up her alley.
Today was a nice day. I had an orthodontist appointment where she was a total angel sitting in her stroller with snacks for an hour. This afternoon I ran to the grocery store to get ingredients for dinner (delicious beef stroganoff - new recipe). When we got home and I unhooked Lilly from her car seat she pulled her same 'ol escape trick that she's been pulling for weeks (months?) now. She quickly slithers out of the seat (of course my hands are full of groceries) and takes off. Keep in mind it's a van and there's TONS of room in there. It's like a bus. She leaps over the back seat, hides from me, will NOT get out, takes DVD's and tries to shove them in the DVD player, turns on the wipers... you get the gist. It's something that bugs me SO VERY MUCH. Lately I have been really good about having my hands free and grabbing her right out of her car seat so we haven't had to deal with it. Well today she was having a standoff with me. She was up against the opposite side of the van up on an armrest and leaning against the window grinning. So I said, "Ok Lilly, what's it going to take for me to get you out of here?"
And she says, "Count Mommy, two, one..."
*sidenote - I have been trying to use a strategy I picked up from my pediatrician and many mothers based on a book titled 1-2-3 Magic. It makes wonderful sense. The idea is when there's a behavior you don't like or want to correct you say, "That's 1." If the behavior continues, "That's 2" and so on to 3. You are calm and unemotional. If you get to 3 you take the child to their room for a little break for (in Lilly's case) 2 minutes. It is not a punishment and you do not get angry or lecture. You put in room and close the door. They can play in their room. After 2 minutes (the age of the child) you open the door and you DO NOT rehash the incident. You resume your day/activities. Eventually the child will learn that they don't like being taken away and will learn to make decisions to stop the behavior before 3. I like the concept. But it doesn't take into consideration if I'm on the deck or in the family room I have to hike up 12 steps with Lilly to put her in her room for a measly 2 minutes. Call me lazy. I am. So I've been doing it halfass (which I'm sure doesn't help matters). She doesn't like to go in her room but it doesn't change her behavior when I count. Also, I can't keep my mouth shut and insist on reminding her why she's in there and rehashing. So I'm breaking all the rules.
Back to the story...
So I say, "One , t..." and at this point she's smiling and leaps into my arms and exits the car without a fuss.
Are you kidding me? It was that easy? I just had to ask her how I should discipline her and it would work?
Amazing.
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