Wednesday, August 15, 2007

But when he was bad he was horrid

Yeah, so I've dropped of the W.M.E. Planet. Please don't let that fool you into thinking I have been off being a good mother. Surely you people know me better than that.

Ben, my three year, is a very bad boy. He's actually a terror. It's too bad there isn't really a boat that would come take him to "Where the wild things are" because he'd give Max a run for his money. He is just awful. Any confidence I had built up over the years of parenting the older two has been obliterated by Ben. Oh, for the most part, he is not defiant. But he has defined mischievous in a whole new way. And when he does the things he knows are wrong for the 254th time and I question him about whether he did it, he always smiles his mischievous grin and says, "Yes mommy". And no punishment seems to be strong enough to keep him from doing it again. And again. And again. Oh he's so affectionate and sweet. He's always ready with hugs and "I love yous." But the boy has me at the end of my rope.

And lately, he has taken to yelling. Sometimes in frustration, sometimes just for dramatic emphasis. And when I don't respond fast enough, or in the way he prefers, he stomps his foot and yells. "I need you to do it right now!" And so now the words "right now" have been removed from his acceptable vocabulary. And yelling at mommy is not allowed either. In principle anyway.

And tonight, at dinner when I discussed this new phase with Shane, explaining (okay, whining!) that he keeps yelling at me and demanding everything "right now", Shane said:

"Well he's just repeating what he hears you do"

Hmmph. Apparently everyone in this family is a frigging parenting expert these days.

2 comments:

Mrs. H said...

Oh, I have the female counterpart in my home! Yelling, yes, and giving commands, yes. She doesn't get the yelling from me (usually this only comes out when she's frustrated or angry), but I have heard frequent commands that I tell her ("now!" or "I need you to...") given back to me.
She's my only and when it's just me and her, sometimes I just ignore and move on. However, I KNOW this is hurting her in the long run and I've been trying to crack down on it. She's four and spankings work sometimes. However, I think I need to progress to the putting something on her tongue, but haven't been "brave" enough to do hot sauce or vinegar or ? Have you ever used anything in his mouth? When my hubby's home, he immediately punishes and let's her know that she is not to yell at her mommy. He's good :-) I am much too lazy, errr.

karen said...

We use a dab of non-toxic dish soap for curse words in our house. Lars has only ever had to have soap once, and I think that will hold him until he's 27. We've had to change soap brands twice for Ross...after a while with the same kind, it seems he might start to like the stuff.

Joy, one GWP (good wife point) for not smacking Shane when he blamed Ben's behavior on you!