After having a great week with Miss S, I thought the weekend would give us more opportunities to have fun and work on our communication skills. And I would be wrong. After seeing Toy Story 3, she decided she liked this "all eyes on me" situation and thought it would be a good idea to pout anytime she didn't get what she wanted. There were various situations that popped up where we had to tell her "no" or her brother got attention and she didn't. Most of those situations were met with a curled bottom lip, head bowed down, and some stomping feet.
The real kicker came on Sunday. Denielle decided to go out and rent Annie for the 3 of them to watch while I cleaned up after dinner. Lil C and Miss S were playing quietly at the dinner table when D left to get the movie. I walked back into Miss S's room to make sure everything was set for bedtime. When I got back there, I noticed that the items I told her to put away were just piled up just inside her doorway.
I went back to the table and asked her to go to her room with me. I told her she'd see why as soon as she walked in. Sure enough, I didn't even have to say anything. I just watched her pick up the pile and start to put stuff away. At this point, I figured Denielle would be home inside of 10 minutes so I told Miss S to keep putting her stuff away and then stay in her room (because she disobeyed) until D got home. She promptly threw all her stuff back on the floor. I told her that was the wrong response and that there was no excuse for that kind of behavior. I also told her that I had told her several times that the pile on the floor did not constitute "putting stuff away." Then I made the mistake of upping the ante a little too much. I told her if she had another outburst she'd be in her room for the rest of the night and not get to watch the movie. Boy, did she ever love that.
She threw up her hands and said "But Denielle's not going to be home for a long time!" I said, "That's it. I just told you to watch your actions. You're in here for the rest of the night with no movie." Then she decided to go berserk. She dove into her bed, screamed/cried into her pillows and, after I shut the door, started throwing stuff around.
Sure enough, not 5 minutes later, Denielle got home. I told her what happened and informed her that I would leave her there for 30 minutes and then go talk to her. At that time, I would tell her to pick up her room and she could come watch part of the movie.
When I walked into her room, I noticed the mess. At that point, it took me a good 30seconds to decide whether or not I was going to let her watch the movie. I sat there just looking around. It probably seemed like an eternity to her! I explained that her behavior was completely unacceptable. I told her that nothing good will happen if she starts arguing or acting out while she's being punished. We talked about how she needs to obey and control her anger. I told her again that the only things in life that she can control are her attitude and actions.
Then I told her that I would give her one chance to pick up her room and put things back in order. If she did that, she could watch 30 minutes of the movie and I would even make popcorn. She jumped right up and did it in about 5 minutes.
Then I got back to cleaning up the dinner mess while I listened to Annie...and the kids singing along in the living room.
The picture is of Lil C's room. He and Miss S used to sleep in there but she has since moved into her own room. This is the aftermath of an hour of play. Thought you might enjoy seeing part of their lives.
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