My Honest Opinion: The Discipline Dilemma

I don't think I have talked about Little Man woes for a while.

That's probably because until recently, there haven't been many.

Or the ones that were there were not really worth complaining about....

But now....

Oh, how things have changed.

I'm going to admit some very ridiculous things to you today.

I expect you not to laugh.  (too loudly)

In my opinion, disciplining children, or rather - knowing HOW TO DISCIPLINE your children - may very well be impossible. 

It's like the fountain of youth....

Completely unreachable.

Ever.

Unless you have the map.  That someone burned.

And unless maybe you squeeze a tear out of a mermaid while she's trying to eat you.

Seriously.

It's that hard.

I despise it.

So many variables.

Not to mention a life sentence of knowing you are responsible for screwing your kid up.  FOREVER.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

For instance, Little Man's big thing right now is to say "NO!" to everything.

Seriously.

You could ask him if he wanted to go outside and swing on the swing (his favorite thing, btw) and the kid would say "NO!"

You could ask him if he wanted pizza and chicken nuggets forever (more fave's) and he'll nod his head as firmly as possible from side to side and shout, "NO!"

Everything is "No!"

"Wanna go see Zoe?"

"No!"

"Wanna go swim in the pool?"

"NO!"

"Wanna poke something with a stick?"
(Seriously.  This happened last night.  In the swing.  Poking surrounding weeds with a stick.  Must've been like heaven to this kid.)

"NO!!!!"

It's the answer to everything.

And truthfully, I don't know how to make him stop saying no.

Because it's not a sassy, "NO!" every time.

And because there are times when I need  him to say no.

And there are times where he is legitimately saying no.

I.e., When Gizmo climbs up on the table after dinner is over.

Little Man says, "No, IDDO!" which interpreted is, "No, Gizmo!"

So I can't discipline him for saying No then....

And how about those times I scream, "NO!" at him while he is trying to disconnect the cords from every electronic device in our home...how about that?

How can I discipline him for things that I do?

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Do you see what I am saying?

This is such a faulty system.

And I am so bad at it.

And I sooooo understand what my mom meant when she said that the first kid is kinda like a practice round.... 

And it explains so much about why I, the first kid, turned out this way....