It's 11:22 am and my house is finally quiet. All 4 children asleep, hopefully to wake up in better moods. It's been a crazy emotional morning.
The craziness is partly my fault. Last night I let the boys talk me into staying up late and watching Star Wars. It's summer right? Why not. They can sleep in.
Well, they didn't. Instead they were up at 7:30....that's earlier than they usually wake up.
Since we were up so early anyway I decided to get the kids dressed and meet some friends for a playdate over at the mall playground. We were all dressed ready to go, dog in the kennel, and babies buckled in the car seats. I asked Gavin to scoot over so Zander could get by in the van. He refused. Things escalated. Tears and screaming on his side. I was at a loss as to what to do. I told him to get out of the van so we could have a talk. He refused again. I told him that if he didn't listen to me then we weren't going to go play with our friends. He still refused.
What's a mother to do? Make empty threats? Not me.
So I unloaded the twins....who, by the way, did not understand what was going on and were crushed because we were going back inside. They both started crying. Zander was angry at his brother.
Gavin still refused to get out of the van. Screaming at the top of his lungs ordering me to take him to the mall. We all went inside and left him throwing his fit by himself....which lasted about 20 minutes.
Then he can in. He said he would be nice and asked to go to the mall.
"Sorry Gavin. It's to late. I'm glad that you decided to be nice, but we're not going to the mall. The way you behaved and talked to me was wrong."
Ok. The husband and I have been talking about this a lot lately. He thinks I need to spank him. It's really hard for me to spank my children. It's one thing to swat their little hand when they try to touch the stove. But spanking as a punishment? I have mixed emotions about that.
But I did. I spanked him. Seriously he was acting horrid. I needed to get his attention. He's 4 going on 14 and if I don't get this attitude in check I'm in trouble.
He was sent to his room where he continued to throw stuff and scream and he was making himself sick with anger. I went in there after time had past and the tantrum hadn't ceased.
"Gavin? Calm down. You're going to making yourself crazy. Come here."
I sat on the bed. He walked over with angry eyes and said, "I want to cut your head off!"
I hugged him. "Calm down my son. Mommy loves you. Please stop saying hurtful things that you don't mean."
"I want to go to the mall!"
"We're not going to the mall today. You have a choice now. You can be angry and mad for the rest of the day OR you can get over it. You can come down stairs and eat lunch with us if you want. I made PB&J...your favorite."
Sigh. It's been one of those days.
He gets his wild emotions from me. I can totally relate. But it's my job to teach him how to control them. Right now I'm at a loss on how to do this. He really is a sweet boy. Just very moody and emotional. He's got all the makings to be a very successful musician or artist.
What did I learn from this? It's to late to start a movie at 8pm.
3 comments:
Um...I totally love your post and I think there's something in the air. Tyler has been a crazy man today. Huge fits, hitting, etc...Naptime has just begun and I really hope we can have a better afternoon. What am I going to do when I have more than one???? You're amazing!
Good job keeping your cool. It is amazing how different children (and some adults too) can be with a little lack of sleep.
Definitely something in the air today...Gavin sounds SOOOO much like Hudson.
And, I agree with the above commenter - what in the world would I do with more than 1?? You are AMAZING momma!
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