We’ve been having a pretty hard time with the little guy, G- (3), with his kicking, hitting, and general bursts of explosive energy when things are going just how he wants (or when he’s tired). Our strategies over the last month or two haven’t worked at all, though, we’ve been mad sometimes, gentle and loving sometimes, permissive, weak, you-name-it. It was driving us all crazy!
About two weeks ago I’d had it with his craziness, and with my daughter A- (6)’s increasing levels of sassiness and sarcastic rejoinders to our comments, so I just remained very calm and said to them both “from now on, every time you are sassy to me, and every time you hit me you’ll be in a time out.”
Since then I’ve been 100% consistent with marching them out of whatever room we’re in for even a 10-15 second timeout and it’s really been astonishing how well it’s worked. G- is really chilling out and seems to be finally (!) growing beyond his hit and kick method of getting through the day, and even more pleasantly, A- has just about completely stopped the sarcasm and disrespectful behavior. I can’t tell you how much our collective quality of life has improved, but trust me, it’s quite delightful. And I haven’t raised my voice or gotten upset even once the entire time.
The moral of this story: calm and steady sometimes wins the race.