Sidebar Story

OK so, I know my focus is on discipline this week but I have to share this story that happened just last night!

I’m watching little E while her parents are in Europe. My husband and I have been staying at her house and trying to take her out on fun outings every evening. Last night we did pizza and one of our favorite spots in Asheville and then ice cream at The Hop Ice Cream. It was a wonderful night filled with so much laughter, including sharing a drink with E via two straws, and ice cream on my nose! Yea that was awesome.

Anyway through out the entire night E could not stop talking about her “sister.” Telling us her sister was in Paris, and that her sister was so happy. All evening I was thinking she was actually talking about her mom until she said something that made me think she really thought she had a sister (E is an only child). As we were pulling into her house I thought I would test this theory of mine.

“E” I said, “What is your sister’s name?”

Without even thinking about it she replied “Gloria Estefanan”

I broke down laughing, I couldn’t help it.

My husband said, “Do you mean Gloria Estefan?”

She said “Nope! My sister’s name is Gloria Estefanana!”

And thus the birth of E’s fist imaginary “friend”.

Next Subject

I have worked with so many different families with so many different discipline ideas. Some I disagree with , from “We never say no or anything negative to our kids” to “we spank first ask questions later.” Some I agree with like “we get down on our child’s level and explain whats going on. Then put them in time out.”

So this week I would like to tell some stories about discipline, how kids react to it, and give a little bit of advice, based on my experience.

Final Potty Training Tip

This story is from a family I have worked for since their youngest (who is now 3) was still being swaddled. I love this family dearly and have truly treasured all the moments I have gotten to spend with them.

On this day however, I was struggling to stay on top of the demands of keeping up with two young children.

The Big Sister had started potty training and we were working through a very real fear of the toilet. She had this way of “holding it” all day and only going when we put diapers on her for nap and nighttime. As you can guess this is not good for her digestive system, so we had all spent many hours sitting on the bathroom floor trying to make the potty fun!

After doing this for about 10 minutes on this day, the three of us had to move on to the Little Sister's needs, which was a diaper change (a not so fun one).

As I was doing this Big Sister was playing around the house….or so I thought. After a few minutes Big Sister walks in, looks me right in the eye, and says,

“I pooped!”

I start thinking omg! She pooped? Wonderful! She did it by herself? On the potty? Omg what an awesome……WAIT

“Where did you poop?” I asked, hoping hoping...

“In the kitchen” She replies.

Final Potty training tip. Your kids are going to have accidents. Try really hard to keep your cool and remember, you never got anything on the first try either.