My big girl, Miss Madyson, has developed a mouth that calls for prayer.
Madyson has always been dubbed "the good child" between the two of them. She never cries (even as a baby, she wouldn't sit and cry) time outs have always worked as her means of punishment, She is the child you can reason with. But over the past week we have noticed this attitude emerging from our precious princess.
Example: Tonight we were going to eat Mexican because mommy didn't want to cook. So I told Madyson
me:"Madyson we are going to eat Mexican tonight."
Madyson responded with: "who? I am not going."
me: "yes you have to go with us, you don't have to eat but you have to go"
Madyson: "I don't care what you say, I am not going."
Todd and I both looked at each other and just sat in silence as we drove to the restaurant. This is our way of handling shocking things until we have had enough time to sit and talk about how we are going to handle it.
When we got home it was like okay...what are we going to do about this?
Todd was raised with soap in the mouth. This horrifies me because Madyson is allergic to soap and I can't imagine doing this to her. So we ruled that one out.
We have decided to talk to her about it, find out where it is coming from and go from there.
But if this is a view into the next 14 years... somebody better start praying!
Any of you have any ideas?
I am not ready for this! I'm glad we are still at the eat, poop, cry phase! They grow up too fast!
ReplyDeleteWe're in a similar place with Mattie Leigh. She gets to stay with Kevin's grandmother a good bit and is allowed to do whatever she wants with no consequences (even after several discussions with his grandmother, she still doesn't honor our wishes to keep the same rules at her house that we have at ours). After staying with her, Mattie Leigh usually comes home and tries to do things her way...when I try to correct her, she points her finger at me and yells "NO!" Needless to say, now that I'm finished with school, her time at his grandmother's will be limited without me there with her to make sure she's not getting to behave that way. My suggestion for y'all is to wait and see what Madyson says before you try to come up with any type of discipline for it. She may have gotten the idea from a kid at school or something she saw on TV or in a movie or something. I've learned that not reacting to the behavior and calmly disciplining is the best way to go. I reacted the first few times Mattie Leigh did it and she ended up trying it more and more at home. Now, she usually catches on pretty quickly that we're not going to tolerate it and she stops. Keep me updated on what y'all figure out and what discipline you decide to use...I could use tips too.
ReplyDeleteoh no! i grew up with soap in my mouth, turns out i was a sailor from the get-go. i have done the soap for lou too, but then realized that she enjoys it because, "ummmm. dis tastes wike stawberries." so, i have put lemon juice in a squirt bottle and gone that route and it seemed to work, until the other day when she said, "ooooh mommy. can i has more? dat tastes yummy and sours." i seriously don't know what to do with my child. :)
ReplyDeleteLaura Grace (my oldest) goes through sassy phases. Most of the time she is a sweet, reasonable little girl who is eager to please. Then Satan (I like to blame him) sinks in his claws and she says things like, "I don't have to obey if I don't feel like it. You can spank me if you need to but I am still not going to do it." What works for her is for me to NOT REACT BY YELLING. You see, she gets her mouth from me :) I tell her that she can not talk to me that way, can not disobey me, ect... and that she is now in trouble. The punishment varies-we have tried hot sauce or lemon juice in the mouth but it didn't phase her. I also thought it cruel and never felt at peace about this. We also spank, but not often because the best punishment for her is when I set the timer and tell her that she can not talk for fifteen minutes due to abusing her tongue. She is almost 7 and understands what I mean by this :) If her attitude continues, I will spank her or make her take a nap (another huge punishment for her!).
ReplyDeleteOh, I almost meant to say that I love your blog and will be following :) I grabbed your button!
ReplyDelete