Mental Junk

I'm stubborn.

Very stubborn.

Trouble is, so are my kids.  That is where we clash a lot.  If I tell them "No, don't touch that." – just once, then I have to keep telling them that.

Nate has discovered this weekend that I actually mean it when I tell him to stay off the living room end table.  I keep telling him (and so does Mic) over and over all weekend until I have to get up, pull him down and place him in the chair for a time-out.  3 minutes of sitting there without getting down.  After the 15 or so minutes of starting over because he constantly gets down, he is finally let down.  What does he do?  GOES RIGHT BACK ON THE TABLE!!

So, the cycle of life punishment repeats itself.  Needless to say, neither of us have had a great weekend.  A lot of crying, a lot of hurt feelings and a whole lot of stubbornness.

We eventually worked things out (I WON!!) but there were many times during the past two days I kept questioning whether I should just give in and let him fall from the table to learn.  That would be soooo much easier!  The trouble is, I don't think he would have fallen.  The kid has good balance when he isn't tired, and even if he did fall, the guy would just shake it off and take it in stride.  He has such a high pain threshold I doubt he would notice.

I know my stubbornness may be a problem in my parenting skills/style.  It may not be a good thing, but I don't know if it is such a bad thing.  If I did give in he would just learn that if he tries long enough he would eventually get his way.  I remember going through the same thing not long ago with Cameron.  With him – it was shoes.  I had the same thoughts and concerns back then too.

I have since come to understand that what is best for them is usually what is hardest for me.  Which SUCKS.  I mean, this weekend was just the three of us (Michelle was working).  So we could have spent the time playing and horsing around.  Instead, there was a lot of crying and screaming.

Oh well.  Cameron has learned from the shoe incident (and some more since) that I usually win on the stubborn front. Nate will too.  It willjust take a few more clashes like this weekend to enforce it.  Michelle likes to compare it to the elephants in the zoo that are only tied down with light ropes and they don't go anywhere because they were tied down with heavy chains in their youth so they learned if there was something around their feet there was no point in trying to move.

So, we are raising a couple of elephants.  Trust me, some days it  sounds like it around here.