Being tested by your toddler is one of the hardest things on the planet to deal with. How do you discipline (harshly) someone you love so much but who is constantly trying to impose their will upon a situation.
At the moment Curious George has started waking at 5am and we can't figure out why or get him to go back to sleep. He's not ready to wake up, we know because he wakes up crying and then cries and complains for the next hour. He is then horribly grumpy and difficult for the rest of the morning.
Then he says he wants to sleep I put him in his cot and he just screams at me from his room. He says he wants to be driven in the car even though this is not something we do to put him to sleep. He always just goes to sleep in his cot on his own. Over the last two weeks I've been sympathetic and let him get up again for another hour or two, even though I'm completely exhausted. I've gone in and tried to pat him and soothe him. I've given in and driven him in the car, which sometimes makes him fall asleep and some times doesn't.
Today I've had enough. If he tells me he wants to sleep he's going to have to learn that he will then be put to bed. I cannot continue to play this battle of wills game. So screaming or not he's in the cot until he has a sleep. Sounds harsh but sometimes I just can't figure out another way to play it without creating a little terrorist who no one wants to be friends with because they can't stand not getting their own way and think they rule the universe.
Parenting is not for sissies.
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ReplyDeleteI wish they came with a manual, just knowing why they cry would be enough to get by sometimes ... Good Luck Super Mom
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