Discipline

Hattie seems to be less of a whine queen this week. What is working for me right now is putting her in her room in time-out when she misbehaves to the point of needing discipline. I have only had to do it once so far, and I think it works better than time-out on the rug because she is away from me, something she does not like at all, so it's true punishment for her. And thank you to all the moms who emailed me or posted comments about ideas with discipline. I have a few new tricks up my sleeve now!

Now, a new dynamic to discipline:
Discipline is so much easier at home than in public. I cringe when Hattie disobeys when we're out. I know I HAVE TO address her behavior whether we're out or not to be consistent, but I just get so embarrassed when she misbehaves in public, and I'm shy about it because you never know who is watching and what they think.

Just today I took Hattie to get ice cream on the way home from the library, and when I handed her her ice cream cup with sprinkles, she whined, "I want TWO!" Ungrateful much?!?! I said, in my sweet sing-songy mommy voice, "You can't have TWO. One is enough." She YELLED, "I want TWO!" This time (as I could see things were escalating to a frantic fit) I said, "Here is your ice cream with pretty spinkles. Now let's go find a table with a big girl seat for you to sit in. Do you wanna carry your spoon?" That worked. Today. She even said "thank you" when I handed her her plastic spoon to carry to the table, but I know there will come a time when I will lose these kinds of battles to her fits; there will come a time when she is not easily redirected and distracted. God, give me the wisdom to know what to say and the patience to deal with my child in those moments so that an onlooker will not question whether or not to call child protective services on me..........

The above shot did not make the cut for birthday invites.
Man, two comes around, and I'm realizing that things are getting hard on a whole new level. She's upping her game, and I feel like I'm fumbling to play a good hand some days.
I wish I could put her ear up to mine and tilt our heads and all of my maturity and morals and learned ways to be polite and thoughtful (especially in public) would drain into her little brain without any more work on my part.....or I just wish she would get it the first time I teach her this stuff in the comfort of our home......
But this one did!

We have good moments, too, though. I feel like I need to say that since these last two posts about Hattie have been about bad behavior. She can be so sweet and so polite at times, so I know she's learning.........and I'm learning, too........