Sunday, June 6, 2010

NO more


I have been struggling for the last month or so with how to deal with my babes serious commitment to the word NO. It's passionate, loud, comes with a head nod and often times scowl and starts in the morning crib until bed. I've counseled, disciplined, modeled, ignored yet she's dedicated to finding a way to use it with most all interactions. PLEASE let this be a phase (she's 27 months). As I was laying her tonight thinking about how I'd try to approach the NOs tomorrow I read this...

Sometimes you don't know whether to punish a child or hug him. If you punish him when he needed a hug, you've make a serious mistake. But if you hug him when perhaps you should have punished him, you've just brought some extra love in the world" - Tzvi Freeman, Bringing Heaven Down to Earth.

It made me remember the month of doctors and hospital and reminded myself that she could still be dealing with trying to regain control after that ordeal. I will try a more tender approach tomorrow.
p.s. I shot this pic today, she looks so grown up with a mission on her mind.

6 comments:

Christine said...

That's a beautiful quote. I think about this stuff a lot, what this little rant from my kid really means and what it is calling me to do in the moment. Sometimes a hug from mom ends up bringing on a bunch of tears so I think maybe that is what was lurking there the whole time. And then sometimes I still don't know. More hugs!

Sha Zam- said...

Look at that picture. I'm a little leary as to what mission she is on! ha

Ya- NO was a big one for a while here. Now it's "STOP IT!!". When he says no he screams it.... and then I caught myself doing the same... oops. Mother fail for me. I've been trying to use the word YES more emphatically and happily-- as I appearently have been using NO as emphatically..

Evelyn said...

Great quote.

Jebena said...

When you figure it out, post it so I can link it to my brain and blog...BSB has entered into the land of NO and will haul off and attempt to kick you while she's saying it. . . So, ummm, yeah, give me a heads-up when you get there!

PS...Cute grown-girl pic!

Rebecca said...

Oh, how I needed to read this. I guess Eli and Liv are right at the same age - and in the same stage. Eli has a lot of sass right now, and I was just thinking that at 2.5 he's finally hit the terrible two's.

Tomorrow, I'm going to be a hugger.

And, the picture of Liv is beautiful!

msl said...

Amy just saw this...Thank you!!!