Wow, what a past week we have had with our two little "drama-mamas"! For reasons I cannot understand, my almost-seven-year-old has decided to take on the attitude of a sassy fifteen-year-old. This new attitude comes complete with head-bobbing, hair-tossing, and eye-rolling, and continuous back-talk. Unfortunately, I am so not prepared to deal with this already! So far I've instituted time-outs, loss of privileges, and good ol' spankings, and they all give a temporary fix. But it doesn't take long for the attitude to resurface, leaving me to wonder what I should do next. Raegan has always been very strong-willed, and discipline with her has been 6+ years of puzzles for my husband and me.
As if her drama isn't enough, I now have a two-year-old with just as much spunk and independence. Now, strong-willed two's are one issue at home... it's a whole new ballgame when you put her in a room full of other two-year-olds every day at a school where Mommy works. This week we've started a new trend of smacking anyone who comes near us... how do you teach a child this age not to hit?? Spanking seems to be a bit of an oxymoron, yet time-out doesn't seem to be effective with her. She puts herself in time-out on a regular basis. She prefers to be off by herself alone, hence the issue with hitting the other kids who bother her at school.
Last week Maddie's problems became such an issue that she spent some time in the school office. I came over and gave her a stern talking-to, threatened her with a spanking, and sent her on her way. Fifteen minutes later I was summoned again- obviously my talk was not very intimidating. She responded to my questions with "Yes, I am supposed to hit," "Yes, I do hit my friends," and (after thoughtfully wrinkling her brow and tapping her forehead) "No, Mommy did not say I will get a spanking." Apparently we have many more years of discipline puzzles ahead of us...
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