Saying no - part 2
posted by Stace
I am trying to achieve balance. I have decided that part of parenting is - obviously - picking battles. Do I really care that Henry wants to run his hands through the cat food and sprinkle it on himself? Is it causing any real damage?
Yes, I do very much care about electrical cords and my glasses, and ok, I despise the spitting - but am learning how to manage that without having to repeatedly say no.
But do I care about the fact that he likes to suck on Kev's shoelaces?
"Gross, gross, gross", I tell my son as I turn the page of my book and read on. It is totally gross and I wouldn't do it, but it would crush him if I moved the shoes, and let's be honest, he'll just go to the closet and pull them out again.
I'm practicing saying, "Whatever", and moving on.
Henry says, "do, do, do" and "dough, a-dough, dough", and I fear that it's him repeating us saying "no", which makes me wonder how often I say it to him. Again, yes, I totally know that it's important to say and god help me I am not one of those parents who is afraid to say no (I mean, really, we are talking about me here), or worried that he won't like me, or not fully aware of the fact that his parents get to make the decisions around here - but I want to make sure that he hears plenty of the positives as well. Yes, yes, yes, yes and Yea, yea, yea for Henry whenever he isn't engaging in those tantalizing terrifying horribly bad things he does.
So what if cat food is confetti? So what if he likes sucking on gross stuff? Yea for Henry. Yes, yes, yes.
Just keep your mitts off my glasses, you monster.
I am trying to achieve balance. I have decided that part of parenting is - obviously - picking battles. Do I really care that Henry wants to run his hands through the cat food and sprinkle it on himself? Is it causing any real damage?
Yes, I do very much care about electrical cords and my glasses, and ok, I despise the spitting - but am learning how to manage that without having to repeatedly say no.
But do I care about the fact that he likes to suck on Kev's shoelaces?
"Gross, gross, gross", I tell my son as I turn the page of my book and read on. It is totally gross and I wouldn't do it, but it would crush him if I moved the shoes, and let's be honest, he'll just go to the closet and pull them out again.
I'm practicing saying, "Whatever", and moving on.
Henry says, "do, do, do" and "dough, a-dough, dough", and I fear that it's him repeating us saying "no", which makes me wonder how often I say it to him. Again, yes, I totally know that it's important to say and god help me I am not one of those parents who is afraid to say no (I mean, really, we are talking about me here), or worried that he won't like me, or not fully aware of the fact that his parents get to make the decisions around here - but I want to make sure that he hears plenty of the positives as well. Yes, yes, yes, yes and Yea, yea, yea for Henry whenever he isn't engaging in those tantalizing terrifying horribly bad things he does.
So what if cat food is confetti? So what if he likes sucking on gross stuff? Yea for Henry. Yes, yes, yes.
Just keep your mitts off my glasses, you monster.
posted by Kevin and Stace @ 11:11 AM
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