What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate

Whenever Shane doesn't get his way he let's you know. "I'm sad!" or "I'm so mad!" "I can't do that!" "I NEED..."

He's very emphatic.

If I try to redirect him, he's very stubborn. You can offer different toys, books, or what have you. Shane will focus on whatever the antecedent was. If he starts to fake cry overly loudly, hit or throw things I'll put him in time out. "Shane, you need to CHOOSE to be happy." "We try to be happy!" etc. Nana and Pop tell Shane, "We come happy. We leave happy!"

Today, Shane was playing with a tape measure. He wanted to use it to hit the ceiling fan. He got frustrated when he couldn't do it. Shane yelled, and threw the tape.

I picked the tape up and put it in my pocket. "If you throw it, it goes away."

"No! I'm sad!" Shane yelled. "Daddy take it away!"

"It's frustrating when it doesn't work," I tried to reason with a three year old, "We need to choose to be happy. Daddy gets sad, too. What does Daddy do when he's sad?"

"Time out."

WHAT?

"No! That's not it. What makes Daddy feel better when he's sad?"

"Daddy put Shane in time out."

Clearly, something was lost in translation.

That'd be a good punch line to end this story on, but I didn't want to leave it alone when it happened.

"When Daddy's sad I think happy!" I tried to talk things through about I think of Mommy, I pray, I think of a fun thing...I was still a little shocked from the toddler honesty. I always work to try and separate responding to actions and to who Shane is (I always try to tell him I love him even if I have to put him in time out), but in his toddler world that may not have been fully understood.

Anyway! We're all works in progress. Happy Saturday.