Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Un Fun

It was a tough day today for Anna. She made a lot of bad choices today (like continuing to whine while I was on the phone, throwing Pooh Bear at me, swatting me with her night-time pull-up) and had to deal with some unpleasant consequences (being escorted to her room to continue the whining, and Mommy leaving during the middle of the bedtime routine, leaving the rest of it to Daddy, who doesn't let her chose everything, like which pyjamas she gets to wear). Tough for her, and for me, who has to act passionless and consistent, and like all the crying and whining and gnashing of teeth doesn't bother me.

Before I had kids, I always felt that discipline problems needed to be treated with consistency. What I didn't realize was how weary I would become of enforcing the consistency day after day, accompanied by the whining. I still follow through, but it feels much more tempting to take the easy way out now that I'm on this side. But, I know the easy way out now means its much harder, later.

Anyway, hope tomorrow goes better.

She did say one really great thing today, though. We were eating the last of the Easter Cookies, and she dropped hers on the floor, mostly because she wasn't sitting in her chair properly. Montana scarfed that cookie in seconds, and Anna was on the floor having a complete meltdown. I shook the tin to let her know there was one more cookie she could have. Anthony said, "Wait a minute. Anna, do you know what you should have done to keep that from happening?" Anna raised her tearful face from my shoulder and said, "I should have thrown the cookie into my mouth before it fell on the floor."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, being a good, consistent and ever diligent parent is hard but ... in the end it will pay off and you will look back on this and many more moments as mere stepping stones to the future. Hang tough and know that you will always be loved by your children ... especially because they feel loved by you! This I know to be true. M

Anonymous said...

Hmmnnn............I think you should make Anth the enforcer and you can be the 'soft soap'. That's what my parents did and look how well it worked for me!

Emily said...

You do such a great job, Jenn. For what it's worth, I think you're a terrific mom.

Anonymous said...

To the Lovely Martin Family,

This is Jessica (the babysitter). I would just like to say that both your children are wonderful! I babysitted Anna and Colin Tuesday and both of them behaved wonderfully! There was no whining at bed time and everything went smoothly. So, to Mr. and Mrs. Martin, you are doing a wonderful job! Both your children are so very well behaved! You both should be very proud!

-Jessica