My girl is somewhat strong-willed. I know, nearly every parent at some point thinks their child is strong-willed. All kids have a will. And sometimes it's strong. I know. But I'm serious when I say that my girl's three-year-five-month history records some serious instances of strongwillituitiveness.
In general, we adhere to the "I'm the boss, therefore I win." philosophy of parenting. We do. But there have been times - more than I care to admit - that we have simply thrown our hands in the air and wondered (sometimes out loud) "What, praytell, shall we do now?" And it would appear that the girl has won.
I was reminded the other day of one such instance. As we were zipping down the road toward home after a long morning of errands, Lily asked if she could just walk the rest of the way home. Instantly I was brought back...
It was a cool and humid evening as we wrapped up our visit to my sister and brother-in-law and their two girls last summer. When the goodbyes were said, we dragged our kicking and screaming daughter to the car under one arm. Apparantly, she wanted to stay a bit longer. Shocker. As daddy applied force to secure her arched-back board-stiff body into the five-point harness, things continued downhill. As we closed the doors, we found ourselves in a bubble of torture. The windows literally reverberated. It was very near the cliffs of insanity.
My sister lives on a quiet dirt road very near the middle of nowhere. Still, I was a bit surprised when my husband came out with, "If you do not stop your fit right now, you are going to get out and walk." I mean, she was two. She'd be scarred for life by us leaving her on the road to the middle of nowhere while the dew set on the grass. I really, really hoped she'd stop. She didn't. Shocker.
The car stopped, and a wide-eyed Lily was plopped onto the road.
"What're you doin', daddy?"
"You didn't stop your fit. You're walking."
No response.
As I hyperventilated (quietly to myself), wondering what would happen next, my husband got back in the car and slowly accelerated. (She was only two. He wasn't going to leave her for dead.) I braced for the worst. I couldn't even bear to look in the rearview mirror. As we got about twenty or thirty feet from her, my husband told me to look back. There she was. Waltzing along. Singing to herself. Having a jolly ol' time. Chillin' like a villain. Or something.
We went a few more feet and stopped, lest we let her out of our sight. Eventually, she made her way to our car, walked up, and knocked on the driver's side window.
"Why'd you stop, daddy? Keep goin'."
With that, she walked to the back of the car and tried to push it.
Finally, daddy got out and put her back in her carseat. She wasn't really okay with that. She liked walking. And for the next several months, every time we went anywhere, our two year old asked to walk.
"What, praytell, will she do next?"
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4 comments:
Whoa man, does that one bring back memories for me as well! I have one of those, too! I'd like to say that it gets better, but it really doesn't. It just changes. The one thing we've found that "works" is to take something she REALLLY likes away for a while. One time I made her wear junk clothes (what we call play clothes that are worn out and stained) to school. It darn near killed her. After she left for school I think I cried as hard as she did. But it worked for her. She never did that thing again.
If we threatened her about walking, she'd walk the walk, too. Oy. Hang on, mommy. It's gonna be a lonnngggg ride.
I know it cannot be easy; however, that story is awesome! You're concerned about her being on the road and she's skipping and thinking - this is all I really wanted! I guess reason #761 why we still just have a dog - we put him in his kennel when he doesn't mind! :)
I can totally relate. Those fancy smarty pants authors say, "Do this and your child will learn their lesson and comply happily with your wishes." They never get into the long drawn out stretch-your-creativity-to-the-max antics a child can pull.
Never give up though because she never will!
I have to say the first thing that came to mind was, Hey that sound like something that dad would have done. Ok I lied. The first thing that actually came to mind was "That is one of the funniest thing I have heard in a long time"
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