You know those moments in life when you think 'this will be funny someday?' Well, today we had such an incident in our home. Here is the problem: it is funny to me right now. This is my struggle with parenting. I am so captivated by my children that I feel everything they do is wonderful, glamorous, breathtaking and so on. Hence, the problem comes when I must put on a straight face and deal with the issue at hand. Sin is sin. Disobedience is sin. I must call it that.
I must begin by saying that my precious 22 month old (today, happy birthday Noah) is just that...precious. He has such a sweet nature and disposition. He, overall, is so obedient and has made parenting a breeze.
Onto the story: we converted Noah's baby bed to a toddler/day bed about a month ago. After falling out of the the two-foot, unprotected gap 2 nights in a row, my carpenter-of-a-husband solved the problem. He simply placed a 2 ft x 4 ft leftover piece of laminate tile flooring in the gap. Please do not re-read that sentence, yes I said a piece of laminate tile! If it sounds sounds a little tacky and unfitting for a toddlers bed, then just imagine how it looks.
Bottom line; it solved the problem so I was a happy mamma.
Fast forward to today.
As I changed Noah's crib sheet and moved the make-shift wall, I saw the light bulb go on! He realized how easy an escape from this low bed would be. Dang it!
Fast forward to nap time.
As often happens in our home, I put Noah down for a nap and with Kayt asleep as well, headed for the shower. I had been in the shower less than 5 minutes when I heard the sweet, unexpected pitter-patter of toddler feet running down the hallway.
King Kong had escaped!
Brad poked his head into the bathroom to affirm my fears, we had a child on the loose. As is routine in our home, daddy explained the situation to Noah, told him it was nap time and let him know time-out would be a subsequent consequence if such offense were repeated.
--Now, time-out has been very effective for us (until this point). Noah rarely visits his friend Mr. Time-Out, but when he does, we see great results.--
It was back to bed for Noah. As expected, he got out again. Time Out. Back to bed. Out again. Spanking. Back to bed. Out again. This time Noah willingly bent over for his spanking. If he hadn't felt his daddy's firm hand the first go-round, he felt it this time. Back to bed. Finally...ten minutes of silence, thoughts of victory flooded my mind. Oh wait. What is that I hear? King Kong on the loose AGAIN?
By this point Brad and I had already discussed the realization that when our parents told us spanking hurt them more than it hurt us, they meant it. It was heart-wrenching watching my husband swat that sweet little bottom. Each time he came jolting out of his room he would say "Noah get out!" with such pride. He was so proud of himself for getting out alone. He would giggle with delight as we scooped him up.
So after 2 more rounds of the previous routine, he lay down for a nap. The battle at hand was over! Finally!
Fast forward to bedtime.
He couldn't wait for bed so that he could escape. It was a game. NO! Only 2 rounds of the previous monotony and he was asleep. As you can see, we are making headway.
Now this may seem like a small issue and, relatively speaking, it is. But to the one dealing with a 30 minute nap time battle it is an issue that needs a solution. He needs to be trained on this. I believe that this issue will soon be resolved, but I am sure there will be more training issues creeping their slimy heads around the corner soon.
I'm confident that my little guy means no harm in his fun. But I see a greater picture of responding to and respecting authority.
I only bring this issue up for responses because I have been seeking the Lord and godly counsel concerning child training/discipline lately. I believe there is a lot of godly counsel from my blogger friends and I want to hear how you have chosen to handle such situations.
Consistency is key, what else?
So, you parents, I'm open for suggestions.
10 comments:
Chains and a lock??? Works well for Mia. Too extreme???
I can't help but laugh b/c we are going through the same thing with Ella. Until 2 nights ago she could only get out of her new "big girl" bed but couldn't get her door open. However, now she can get the door open!!! My ordeal didn't end last night until 11:00! Yep, from 9:00-11:00. Keep in mind, too, that Jeremy was still in Santa Fe last night (so was was in a big house by myself). The first couple of time she got out of bed I nearly peed b/c all I saw was this little "creature" creeping out of the shadows toward me. Upon hearing "Hi momma. It's me, Ella." I realized I didn't have little goblins in my house trying to get me...it was just my daughter. Lol. It's funny now but I was really freaked out. You guys should try one thing and we'll try another and see which works faster/better. =)
You know when a child gets caught smoking their parents usually make them smoke the whole pack....why don't you make Noah stay up all night. If he tries to lay his head down say, "Noah, you get to stay up all night just like a big boy." He'll soon be soo exhausted that he'll be begging for rest... that should teach him a lesson.
Or go with Sarah's suggestion. CPS might be calling, though.
Hey! How are you?? Your little ones are so adorable!!
Ashley-
Disciplining our sweet kids is a challenge sometimes, but it sounds like you and Brad are on top of things! I know that with Autumn, sometimes it takes days of consistency for things to click! Toddlers seem to test their boundaries often.
I am encouraged to see another mommy going through the same feelings and situations as I am regarding discipline. You are doing a wonderful job!
Hey!
Thank you so much for your sweet comment!
We have been through the switch to the big girl bed twice now, and we are waiting as long as we can to move our last one out of the crib!!!! How's that for discipline? :) hee hee. I know we can only avoid it for so long! Lauren will be 3 in May!
I will be praying for you today!
Thanks, again!
Love,
K
Ashley! I know how you feel about all the trial and error of child-rearing!! Every kid seems to have their own thing to grow into that needs discipline (I'm talking out of my own dilemma right now!)
with Zayne, we just waited as long as we could to move him from the crib and it ended up being a good move. He did great for a while, then we had to put a child-proof door knob on the inside of his door~! Is that bad? It preserves peace of mind for me though! At first he wrestled with it and once I had to let him cry for about 5 min. but it's actually been really helpful. I don't mind if he plays in there or sleeps as long as we both have that time to ourselves! Another idea is to put up a gate on the outside of his door (where you can shut the door, but also have the gate up) so that even if he does open his door he can't just run out?... He does talk to me through the door sometimes though "Whatcha doin', mama?" CUTE!!! I keep a good ear on any suspicious sounds coming from that room!!
I would LOVE to get together again sometime! Would it work best to do it again like we did the other day?
Our battle with Park was climbing out of the crib, but it didn't take all that long before he got the message of the boundaries.
Sounds like you guys are doing all the right things. In my experience, this discipline thing is harder than it looked before having kids:)
When Brad told this story, he left out the part about nailing laminate flooring to Noah's bed. My side hurts.
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