(no subject)

[rivka]

"You can't make decisions for me," Alex informed me this morning. It's a theme she's been developing for some time, being two years old.

You can't really fix a case of The Twos with good parenting, although to some extent you can mitigate its effects. Mostly all you can do is consistently present your message and then wait it out. Oh, and also? You can do whatever you can to make The Twos more entertaining for yourself.

To that end, I have taught Alex to reply to the question "What are you rebelling against?" with a cheerful, "What have you got?"

And she's learned to demand her Halloween spoils by drumming with her hands and singing, "I want candy! Bomp-ba-bomp-ba-bomp Ba-bomp bomp."

She doesn't get more candy that way than the other way, but it puts all three of us in a much better mood than plain old whining does.

It's possible that, as parents, Michael and I are going to hell for this.

Comments

you are not alone

[going-not-gone.livejournal.com]

We occasionally invoke the Prophet Jagger with our children, singing "you can't always get what you want" on occasions when they are not going to get what they want.

My feeling is that children are expensive and inconvenient, the least they can do is provide a little entertainment value!

Re: you are not alone

[naomikritzer]

Word.

Re: you are not alone

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

rivka's already heard this one, but I'll tell it again. One of our kids was once singing this song to zirself, and then explained it to us. "You can't always get what you want - because it might be an endangered species!"