We’re going through quite a challenging time with the geekdaughter at the moment. There’s the waking up and crying in the middle of the night, which could either be for a probably valid reason (“my knee hurts”) or for a reason that makes me really exasperated (“I don’t want to be alone!”). And then there’s the arguing back. She has really started pushing the limits and answering back, and it’s getting very waring. Well, apart from the times when it’s funny…
Her latest “trick” is to just stand and shout “NO!” at me when I’m saying something she doesn’t like. Which has great comedy potential, as the following exchange shows:
Me: Time for bed!
Her: No!
Me: Come on, bedtime
Her: No!
Me: Do you want to go to bed?
Her: No!
Me: Do you want to clean your teeth?
Her: NO!
Me: Do you want to put your pyjamas on?
Her: No!
Me: Do you want to eat some ice cream?
Her: No! Errrr…. Oh, hang on! Yes!
Me: Too late!
It did diffuse the situation and made us both laugh, so that was good.
Another thing she’s started is to insist to me that she is the grown up, and she is in charge. I usually alternate between simply telling her that she isn’t, or if I want to put a more positive spin on it I tell her she’s got a few years to wait before that happens! I have so far managed to refrain from the old chestnut “when you live in my house, you live by my rules!”, but I must confess I’ve been very close a few times!
Last time, though, I again tried something different:
Her: I’m in charge, because I’m the grown up
Me: OK, so does that mean you’re going to do this pile of washing up for me then?
Her: No, because I’m not a very good grown up!
Humour. Definitely the best way to diffuse the arguments!
4 comments
1 ping
PetitMom says:
January 11, 2012 at 7:24 am (UTC 0 )
Haha brilliant. Alex can’t talk yet but he can argue. Changing his napping comes with a loud angry scream and running from me, same for bed time now but bath time he still loves. Not sure I want him to talk just yet!
geekmummy says:
January 11, 2012 at 9:58 pm (UTC 0 )
On the whole it’s much easier once they can talk, because they can at least articulate (as best they can) what’s wrong.
Pewari says:
January 11, 2012 at 10:50 pm (UTC 0 )
I highly recommend never ever asking young children a question where it can be answered yes or no unless you don’t care about the answer
Statements with time warnings are good: “bedtime is in five minutes”
Questions where you’re happy with both options are better: “would you like to clean your teeth before or after you’ve got your pyjamas on?”
Sheer bribery is best: “if you can beat this timer and be ready for bed in fifteen minutes, you can have an extra story!”
susankmann says:
January 13, 2012 at 4:23 pm (UTC 0 )
lol I did the exact same thing when Tyler was shouting no contantly. Like I said before I just hope they grow out of it. And God help us when they are teens x
Sometimes humour just won’t cut it » geekmummy says:
January 12, 2012 at 7:01 am (UTC 0 )
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