Preceding EVERY nap time and night time, we have to go through a few charades to actually get Simon in bed and sleeping. At nap time he always needs jammies and a book. At night, he needs jammies, 3 books, a sip of water, water on the dresser and to be properly tucked in among other things. The routine gets very old so any B.S. (yes, "BULL SHIT") that lengthens the process can be frustrating.
Today I was frustrated.
Instead of picking out his jammies, he played in his tent. Thus, I picked them out on his behalf. Unfortunately, they were not footie jammies. HE! WANTED! FOOTIE! JAMMIES! He was going to scream until he was wearing footie jammies. I explained that I picked out his jammies because he chose not to and he'd have to live with that choice. I know that logic sounds easy enough, but for some reason the screaming continued. (Dear Love and Logic, You don't work.)
There was a lot of back and forth between us over the next 30 minutes. Mostly he screamed and I tried to not scream back (key word: "tried"). Eventually I caved and let him wear the damn footie jammies. Was now the time to teach him about the consequences of his actions? Who knows. Sometimes I just need to take a step back and remind myself that not all battles have to be picked and he'll still turn out alright....I hope.
(These jammies were the cause of our dispute.)
I love the way you wrote this. Eli is even LESS likely to understand logic and reason at his current age yet I try try try. it's so hard to wonder if the things you give in to, will just ease your stress or teach them they have power. i thnk you did the right thing b/c the sooner they sleep-the less BS they try to pull with all the other little "things". Ha I love listening to others routines. RR
ReplyDeleteAnother funny one! I feel like almost every single mom can relate to this!
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