Theres a question that I see asked a lot, I mean A LOT, on the parenting pages and blogs that I follow. It goes a little something like this - youve told me that Im not supposed to spank or yell when I am angry at my kid, and I get that, but what am I supposed to do in place of spanking and yelling whenever my child hits his brother/pees on the floor/runs when I say walk/wont eat his dinner/wont brush his teeth/wont go to bed, or any other number of undesired behaviors? So now, I am here to tell you that I have the answer! Ive got this one - Dr. Laura Markham at AhaParenting, Janet Lansbury - Elevating Child Care, guy from Free Your Kids - you can all relax, I am on it. After about a year of super-concentrated effort to stop myself from yelling at my kids I can safely say with absolute conviction, what you should do in lieu of spanking or yelling at your kids... ANYTHING. The answer is you should do anything you can possibly think of that will prevent you from lashing out in anger at your kids. Bite your fist. Take 5 deep breaths. Call a friend. Lock yourself in the bathroom. Dunk your head in a bathtub full of cold water. Say the alphabet backwards while balancing on one foot. Flap your wings and quack like a duck. Run around the backyard singing Straight Up by Paula Abdul. Whatever it takes is what you should do in that moment when you feel yourself about to snap. Dont worry about their undesirable behavior, its yours that you need to fix first. Once you get better at that, then the creative solutions will come. Until that time, the only behavior that you need to figure out how to control, is your own. Now, excuse me while I pull my fist out of my mouth and explain, once again, that Tidmouth Sheds is a community toy.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 16:24:11 +0000
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