
Today, the kiddo was delighted by the chance to play what has become one of her favorite games. She raced into the neighbor's yard and grabbed a handful of dandelions. Not to be outdone, I grabbed one she had missed. Well, that did it. The kiddo smashed her fuzzy dandelions into my shirt, then squealed and ran away. So I did the only natural thing--I chased her with my lone dandelion. Fun, fun, until the kiddo started screaming that she didn't want dandelions on her. Um, hello, that's part of the game. She raised such a fuss with her whining and screaming that I decided our walk was off. I headed toward our house, informed her we weren't walking, and told her to go inside. Of course, she resisted and screamed "I want to go for a walk!" (I'm sure there was foot stomping and hands placed on hips, but I was too annoyed to notice.) I held out my hand--the underlying message was that if she took it, we would walk calmly into the house together, but I was ready to grab her if necessary. Guess what? I had to grab her. As I reached for her arm, she hit me. Uh oh. That's not nice. She repeated that she wanted to go for a walk, but this time she was even more agitated. I calmly replied that I, too, wanted to go for a walk, but not with a kiddo who was acting so rudely. Crying, screaming, slamming ensued, and the kiddo was banished to her room.
Why did this happen? I'm guessing pure exhaustion. 1st Grade is a lot more tiring than Kindergarten, and the kiddo is often worn out when she gets home. There is a lot more work--the evidence arrives home every day in her backpack. However, I don't think it's acceptable to use that as an excuse for bad behavior. This is an example of how sometimes it's necessary to give up something (in this case, a walk) in order to make a good parenting choice. Am I annoyed that I had to give up my chance for a nice walk? Of course. Could I let the kiddo get away with her bad behavior? No way.
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