This weekend was a very long one for us. Ellie practiced her new word. Everything was hers. She practiced over and over again. We tried to maintain a rule that she had to say please for everything, even if she demanded "Mine!".
The draining part, though, is that she actually had a few minor melt-downs. Usually if she's upset over something, she'll still say please and then calm down when we give it to her. There were a few times when she laid on the floor and kicked and screamed, and nothing could stop her. Luckily these moments only lasted a few seconds, but it definitely showed me that I'm not ready for what's to come.
I have no idea how I'm going to handle temper tantrums. These first minor ones found me just staring in disbelief. They say that the terrible twos start at 18 months and Ellie is now over 17 months old. Ugh. She's too cute to start this now!
7 comments:
Apparently, I can't comment on your blog w/out it becoming a treatise. Anyway, my comment has yet again become too big and turned into a blog entry.
http://dullgeek.blogspot.com/2008/09/tantrums.html
Hope it's helpful.
I love your comments that end up being a whole blog entry. They're insightful.
Out of curiosity, what do you do about tantrums that take place in public, where you can not send your son to his bedroom?
Here's what we've tried for public trantrums:
http://dullgeek.blogspot.com/2008/09/to-your-room.html
I'd like to know about this too. I've run into this when babysitting for family and always feel so helpless, never know what to do. Would be good to have some tools under my belt. I know it's a normal and expected part of development but definitely not one that's fun for the adults...
MJH, you really are a "Love and Logic" parent, aren't you? I certainly don't mean that as an insult. Both my husband and I were raised with it. However, my mom started when we were older so we never experienced the "go to your room" when we were in public. It's interesting for me to hear a real example of someone who used that technique and see that it worked, not just in a book.
Yes, guilty as charged. But a couple of comments:
I only present the good stories. I don't mean to filter out the bad stories. It's just that when I read something that I can't answer or that I fail at, I don't really have much to say. About the best I can say is "Yup. Me, too." But that answer is (IMHO) not interesting enough to merit a blog post or even a blog comment.
So all you really get to read are the stories for which I have something to say. As a result I present a fairly lopsided view of our parenting on my blog. Sorry about that.
That goes without saying. It's similar to venting to your friends or family about something you're frustrated with in a relationship. They only hear the bad things because you never vent about the good ones.
Trust me, MJH, though I think you have some good ideas when you have the time to think them through and write them down, I am not under the false impression that you have all the right answers. LOL... I didn't mean that harshly. I'm just saying I know what you're saying.
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