So last night, WanderPapa and I were in the kitchen when WanderBoy started pitching a fit in the living room. High pitched whining escalated to yelling, inevitable arm flailing and ultimate crumpling to the floor in hysterics.
My instinct: stomp into the living room, yell impatiently for him to knock it off. This usually leads to me dragging him into a one-minute time-out that becomes a 5 minute ordeal. He hits, I furiously pin his arms to his sides, we sit on the stairs, tears streaming down his face. Me feeling like shit for being rough.
WanderPapa’s instinct: cajole, re-direct, kiss ass. This usually leads to a calm resolution but no real sense that whining, hitting and throwing oneself on the floor is bad.
So what happened: WP held me back from entereing the room, and moments later I did the same to him.
Neither solution seems to work long-term. Ignoring is the key. It’s just so hard to do.
