I just finished reading my good friend Amanda's blog which, incidentally, is hilarious and a must-read for basically everyone. Anyway, in this most recent post she talks about how we inadvertently "damage" our children as we raise them and the repercussions of that. She admits threatening her children, on occasion, with putting them in a basket on the front porch for the gypsies to come and collect. Now...there is something I can relate to! :) Let me explain...
For the past few months, getting our two-year-old Caleb to take a nap has become more difficult. His little body still desperately needs the daytime rest but, for whatever reason, he has gotten infinitely harder to put down and often he will come up the stairs bawling hysterically only 45 minutes to an hour after I've put him to sleep. Any mother knows this is one of the most frustrating aspects of parenting---sleepy, grouchy children that won't sleep when you offer them a warm, cozy, darkened room and an open invitation to nap! Are they completely nuts?! I fantasize about opportunities like that. I digress. So anyway, I've tried a number of tricks to get him to sleep all of which have worked but for limited lengths of time. Our most recent tactic is a throwback technique used by my parents in the early '80's--oh yes, the threatened visit of the terribly scary, always mysterious gypsies (in our house pronounced "jippie-ohs"--who in the world knows why). Speaking of permanantly damaging little children through our parenting styles, I'd like to know if anyone can quantify the damage done to little Caleb as we tuck him into bed saying "Hurry hide! The gypsies are coming! I can hear the bells on their wagons. They'll take you far, far away and make you do all their work and teach you to be a pickpocket if they find you! Quick! Hide! Don't get out of your bed or they'll take you away." This technique is multi-functional. It not only puts Caleb down for a nap but it also gets him to bed faster than a speeding bullet at night, coaxes him to eat his food when nothing else will, and basically solicits obedience in any number of situations. If I reach for my cell phone when he's being a turkey and tell him I'm going to call the "jippie-ohs" to come get him, I can get him to do whatever I want. I like to think that deep down he knows that we aren't really serious and that he is always perfectly safe in our home and under our care. Maybe I'm wrong and the repurcussions of all this will come out in one of Caleb's counseling sessions years down the road. But either way, for now, where the rubber meets the road I have no other choice but to endorse on occasion: THE SCARE TACTIC. Hopefully harmless....definitely effective. Anyone else have any true confessions?? :)
For the past few months, getting our two-year-old Caleb to take a nap has become more difficult. His little body still desperately needs the daytime rest but, for whatever reason, he has gotten infinitely harder to put down and often he will come up the stairs bawling hysterically only 45 minutes to an hour after I've put him to sleep. Any mother knows this is one of the most frustrating aspects of parenting---sleepy, grouchy children that won't sleep when you offer them a warm, cozy, darkened room and an open invitation to nap! Are they completely nuts?! I fantasize about opportunities like that. I digress. So anyway, I've tried a number of tricks to get him to sleep all of which have worked but for limited lengths of time. Our most recent tactic is a throwback technique used by my parents in the early '80's--oh yes, the threatened visit of the terribly scary, always mysterious gypsies (in our house pronounced "jippie-ohs"--who in the world knows why). Speaking of permanantly damaging little children through our parenting styles, I'd like to know if anyone can quantify the damage done to little Caleb as we tuck him into bed saying "Hurry hide! The gypsies are coming! I can hear the bells on their wagons. They'll take you far, far away and make you do all their work and teach you to be a pickpocket if they find you! Quick! Hide! Don't get out of your bed or they'll take you away." This technique is multi-functional. It not only puts Caleb down for a nap but it also gets him to bed faster than a speeding bullet at night, coaxes him to eat his food when nothing else will, and basically solicits obedience in any number of situations. If I reach for my cell phone when he's being a turkey and tell him I'm going to call the "jippie-ohs" to come get him, I can get him to do whatever I want. I like to think that deep down he knows that we aren't really serious and that he is always perfectly safe in our home and under our care. Maybe I'm wrong and the repurcussions of all this will come out in one of Caleb's counseling sessions years down the road. But either way, for now, where the rubber meets the road I have no other choice but to endorse on occasion: THE SCARE TACTIC. Hopefully harmless....definitely effective. Anyone else have any true confessions?? :)
6 comments:
Well, not so much threats, but those do work...
Brandon is into tigers and sharks (actually liking them), so we sometimes say at meal time, "you better eat your food or else the tigers/ sharks will eat it."
Brandon has also gotten up at nights on occasion and so one time at night I told him he could have a treat in the morning if he stayed in bed until the sun came up, which worked and he remembered the next day. As far as the sun waking him up, that is another thing. He use to wake up really early and we told him to wait for the sun to wake him up. Now he says the sun is up when he gets up.
Now he is scared of the dark (we have a night light, but he also wants his door left open) and he thinks that monsters are going to get him even though I tell him they are not real.
Molly, you have such a cute family. It was fun reading about what's going on in your life.
Ah, now I get it... I was wondering why poor Caleb has a nervous tick and is constantly whirling around with a wild look in his eyes to see what's behind him before cowering in a corner, wetting his pants and suck violently on his thumb.
I prefer honesty and love for raising our children.
AHHH!!! I love it. I am totally guilty. I used to use the scary monsters in the windows of "Hot Topic" to get Hailey to do about anything. Sadly, there is no "Hot Topic" in this little town of mine so she has forgotten how truly awful the scary monsters are. Is Hailey too old for the Gysies routine? Might be worth a shot :)
Yeah! You're blogging. When Elliot was about 2 in order to keep him out of the bathroom at my parent's laundromat we told him there was a monster named Duke (who resembled the guy who gets his arm cut off by old obi won in star wars) who lived in there. I still feel guilty about that.
Molly..I just looked at the family pictures you guys had taken on Jocee's blog..I had a flashback and it totally cracked me up. I love that in a few of the pictures you can see your infamous thumbs. I always loved that you had those special thumbs. The pictures are so cute and your kids are too die for.
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