Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Parker went to school again this morning. He was making the puppy dog eyes when I left him, but when I returned he seemed to be much more agreeable. He said he had fun...I think it is interesting to note that the two boys who were causing him trouble were not there today. We'll see how he feels the next time those boys are in class. As we were leaving, a mom stopped me on the way to the parking lot and she invited Parker over for a play date. Her daughter apparently talks about Parker at home. Then I am going to call one of the boys in his class and do the same. Hopefully this will be a good experience for Parker.

I am ashamed to say that last night I really lost my temper with Parker. It was clean up time before bed, and he refused to pick up the blocks. Erik picked up a few, I did my share, and when it was Parker's turn he just looked down and shook his head. I interpreted that as a complete disrespect for authority, and consequently placed him in time-out. After 3 minutes, I walked over and he was pretending like he was snoring. I pulled him up and said that he could not go to bed until the mess was cleaned up. I truthfully could have cleaned up the mess by myself, but it was the idea behind his actions. He was being disobedient, and I needed to correct it. We went round and round for about 15 minutes. Finally I said, "I am going to bed, and when these blocks are cleaned, you may come upstairs." I shut off all of the lights in the house, and left him alone downstairs. Within seconds, I could hear the legos as they hit the box on their way in.

I felt so bad about our little ordeal that I couldn't sleep. At around 2:30 am, I grabbed my pillow and slept in Parker's bed with him. I held him as he snored (for real this time). I wanted him to know that although I had been upset, that I still loved him.

I understand a little bit better about how God works as my authority. Even in His discipline he loves me.

2 comments:

Janna Howard said...

:( meany!!!!! leave your kid in the dark! As his aunt, i woulda bribed him with ice cream....and then made his mom really mad!

Angel said...

I think you did the right thing...too often I'm guilty of giving up and just picking up the blocks myself. But, they have to learn a lesson and if we don't teach them now, they'll never learn. I always feel bad or mean after punishing the boys, but I know it's the right thing to do and I know one day they'll realize that we did it in love.