My son - my precious little angel boy - kicked the 3 year old I babysit. Twice. The first time I told him not to do it again or he would not be able to go to the pool today with Little T and his mom. So what did he do? Yeah, he kicked him again. And fairly hard too.
The whole incident was not un-provoked, mind you. The little boy was all over my son. (Oh, that sounded bad - he was tackling him, that's what I meant by 'all over'.) The little boy has a problem with boundaries and not grabbing and hitting other children. I've been working with him on appropriate behavior. So when my own children can't behave appropriately, it really makes me angry. And frustrated. When my son kicked the boy, it was not his only option. He could have just stood up. Or maybe even 'used his words', which is something I am constantly telling the little one to do. But no, my son, he kicked the pudding out of the boy. (Don't worry, he's okay. Just cried for a second, then was back to playing.)
But the damage was done. I had told him that he wouldn't be able to go swimming if he kicked again. And he kicked again. And now - no pool. I'm a woman of my word, and I have to show that I am serious. (Or I have to make them think so, anyway.)
Darn it though, I really hate that he can't go. I need to make my threats a little less, um, threatening, so that the consequences are not so bad. Why? Because this is what he'll be missing:
(Maybe next time he'll heed my words. Ha!, who am I kidding.)
Edited to add: After I wrote this, I changed him back into his swimsuit. I felt bad about not letting him go. And he was being very good. And what am I, some sort of disciplinarian or something?!?
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