Oh yeah, another tidbit from that blocks class I mentioned.
Girly was a nightmare.
Not a nightmare of the Freddy Krueger variety, but certainly a nightmare on her spectrum of "sweetest/nicest to oh-my-god-who-are-you-and-what-have-you-done-with-my-kid."
I picked her up from school, came prepared with snacks, and thought she would really enjoy something different. There were about 20 kids between 8 months and 3 years and she was, by far, the most disruptive in the room. Granted, a room full of 20 small tykes and lots of blocks will already be disrupted, but she didn't do anything to help the situation. All of the teachers and parents were understanding of course, but I was caught off-guard by her behavior and challenged to respond appropriately in the moment. We got our first "wow, she is busy" comment, and not really in a nice way. We left 25 minutes into the 90 minute class.
What happened to my sweet girl who sat quietly and observed? Oh yeah, TWO happened.
I know this is par for the course (it is, right?), but I will say that it isn't much fun.
It also taught me an important lesson ... this event was for Girly and I thought she would have fun. She didn't and made that abundantly clear to me. I need to be flexible enough to change plans when the situation isn't working for us. From a Love and Logic perspective, I also feel that if I can learn to respond - calmly - in the moment, and validate Girly's feelings, she will eventually act out less. And, in those situations where we can't be flexible, she will eventually be more willing to comply because she knows that I listen to what she is telling me.
I think that's how it might work, anyway - but what do I know? Wishful thinking, I tell you ...
1 comment:
I hear the "wow- he is busy" comments every time we go anywhere, so I understand the feeling! (Like last night at the funeral/visitation we went to...)Hard to keep your cool, but important to realize that most people who have kids understand that they can be a nightmare at this age...
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