Just wondering....

[skeettafic]

...how everyone is doing with positive parenting.  I finally got the positve parenting for preschoolers book and am really trying to be more mindful of how I'm parenting.  Jocelyn is going through a bit of an emotional time right now where everything is causing major meltdowns.  I've really been trying to make sure that Jocelyn is making as many choices as possible and have been trying to put more responsibilty on her for her own behavior.  We started with bedtime -- she was really pushing the boundaries with needing the last glass of water, one more hug, covers fixed, etc.  She was easily extending bedtime to 45-60 minutes of playing around.  I started using the technique that Jen said she uses with her oldest - allowing her three times to get out of bed that I would respond to, after which she goes to back to bed with only a kiss but no other follow through from me.  I am amazed.  I wasn't sure she would actually understand but its been a week and she has not once gotten out of bed more than 3 times. 

The other thing she was doing was running around like a nutcase once we got up to her room to read books.  Once I finally got her to settle down she had already managed to push going to bed back and manged to raise my blood pressure.  A few nights ago I explained to her that she was going to bed in 15 minutes and that I would wait on her carpet until she was ready to read her books.  I reminded her a couple of times through the process of how long she had until she went to bed.  Once the time was up I told her that it was bed time.  She of course, started with "I WANT TO READ BOOKS!"  I told her calmly that she had choosen not to read books that night and that I was sure the next night she would settle down early enough to read some books.  The following night she ran around most of the time but did settle down with enough time to read a couple fo books.  Tonight she came over and sat down as soon as we went upstairs.

That's my biggest success so far.  The next "issue" we're having is with mealtime so I'm making that my priority next.  I don't think she's feeling included enough in mealtime so I really going to work on getting her involved in preparing for dinner. 

How is everyone else handling these oh so wonderful times?

[HanoiHelle]

This sounds really interesting and impressive. CM also is pushing it when it comes to bedtime - really more the length of time it takes her to go to sleep, and wanting water, her diaper changed, what ever.

What is the name of the book and author. Sounds like it would be worth checking out.

Stay the course ! 

[kokonutmama]

Actually, to be honest, my little 'nut has grown into quite a pleasant little boy; he's easy to manage nowadays. 

We still nurse to sleep, and he chooses when to go to bed, so there's not a whole lot of struggle there.  It helps that I've recently decided to stop nursing when it's not to sleep, just one day up and said no, no more.  He still asks for it but it's very obvious when he does that it's habbit, thirst or some other easily managed cause, and it makes sleep time much more voluntary.  It also makes me more willing to travel with him because there's less of a chance that he'll lift my shirt or start yelling "Boobie boobie!!" in public.

His asking "why" all the time, while sometimes irritating, has really helped our relationship.  Here, true to form, I'll give an example:  A: Time to brish your teeth, bub! , K: Why? , A: To get the sugar-monsters out , K: I want them to stay in there! :-( , A: Nope, they're not allowed. , K: Why? , A: Because they'll eat your teeth. , K: I want them to eat my teeth , A: Then you would have no more teeth, I don't want that to happen , K: Why? , A: You wouldn't be able to eat pizza or edamame, just babyfood.  , K: Let me do it! , A: OK, here's your toothbrush. 
As a side note, besides sugar monsters, there are also baby crabs in K's mouth.  The baby crabs are afraid of both the sugar monsters and the toothbrush, so sometimes it takes some cajoling to get them to hide under his tongue before we can brush.

Now when he exits this wonderful little man stage I'll let you know how we're going again.