Nothing like kicking off the day with some Love & Logic and a hard dose of Life Lessons to boot. Cristian has been saving every dollar he has received from his allowance or any other method of earning money for a LONG time for this $50 LEGO Pirate Ship he wants. He has now saved $38 so he is almost there. So, you can imagine how the thought of losing ALL that money to replace something he messed up would not sit well with him. Here is a snapshot of how all this unfolded today in the bedroom...
I went into my room to change so that I could take my lunch hour and grab a bite to eat and noticed many spots and streaks of black, blue, and red marker on my new Duvet. Now, let me point out that little man was told twice yesterday that he was welcome to color on the night stand in the bedroom or the floor but the bed was not a place for his markers and coloring projects. So, when I saw these marks on the cover that were not there yesterday, I knew that they must have happened sometime today. Let me just say though I was not worried a bit. It was not my problem :)
M E: Cristian, can you come into my room for a minute please?
C: Yes?
M E: Can you tell me what places are good places to color in my room?
C: (Looking at the bed and mumbling)
M E: I was wondering, did you color on my bed today?
C: (Already a wreck with tears pouring down) Yes
M E: Are these marker marks on the covers from your coloring?
C: (In fit mode already) YEEEEEEEEEEEEES
M E: Oh boy...What do you think you are going to do to take care of this?
C: (Screaming and crying) Noooooo I don't want to spend my LEGO money! I can't spend my money! Noooooo (He was stomping and throwing an award winning fit)
After calmly asking him to talk in a calm voice so I could understand him and him just getting louder and tossing into a further fit I picked him up, carried him to the front door, opened it, placed him on the step in front of the door and told him to feel free to come back inside when he feels ready to talk to me in a calm voice. I left the front door open and headed back into the hallway. What do you know, he follows right behind, shuts the door and goes back to begging to keep his money for his LEGO. As soon as he saw me walk back to the front door all of a sudden the water works stopped like some drought miracle and he found his "normal" voice free of crying and whining. Imagine that.
C: I'm ready to talk about it. I'm done crying.
M E: Okay. Have you thought about how you are going to take care of this problem or do you need some ideas to help you?
C: I need some ideas (starts crying again)
L: Some kids might help their mom wash the comforter and see if the marks that the markers made come out in the wash. What do you think about that?
C: Noooooo because they AREN'T going to come out and they are going to be STUCK and it is going to be RUINED and I don't want to SPEND MY LEGO MONEY! (and back to the meltdown we go...)
Lara told him that when he was ready to talk to us in the same voice we are talking to him we would be happy to talk to him and until then he needed to leave the room because his screaming and crying was hurting our ears.
He took his meltdown into the other room and finally calmed himself down about 10 minutes later. We got dressed and headed out to grab a bite for lunch which went from 60 min to 40 min at this point.
In the car...
M E: Are you feeling better?
C: Yes.
M E: Have you thought of any ideas that might help you take care of this?
C: Mommy gave me some ideas but I don't agree with them. (I wanted to laugh SO hard at this)
M E: I see. What choices didn't you like?
C: Buying a new comforter if the washing machine doesn't take out the markers with MY LEGO MONEY! I don't want to spend my money. I want to keep my money. I HATE THIS!
M E: Wow...you sound really upset. I sure would be upset if I had to spend money that took me a long long time to save up too. That would make me so sad.
C: I'm upset. I don't want to give up my money. (back to crying but no screaming thank goodness)
L: I know.
C: I HATE this.
L: I know.
C: Mims, I want to buy my LEGO. I don't want to lose all my money!!!
M E: I know.
so this goes on for a good 5 minutes and then he just goes quiet. We ate lunch and he went back to his happy self, playing with his paper pirate ship he brought, being silly, making jokes...and in the car on his own he says..
C: "OK...I thought about it and if the washer doesn't get the marker out then I will buy a new one to fix it and then save up more pay day monies for my LEGO. But it is making me sad..."
Needless to say that since we got home he hasn't as much thought to put anything on our stuff. He was playing with his paper pirate ship on the night stand and then decided he would play on the floor instead so "it doesn't scratch anything." and then is all proud asking if that was a good idea.
I hope those markers weren't washable because better to have a lesson early in life with something small like $30 than with something bigger later in life. It may even be cheaper than that...it was from IKEA after all :)
Anyhow - there is the cliff note version of all the fun you missed at our house today. Now, don't you wish you lived here? LOL
Cheers,
M E
I went into my room to change so that I could take my lunch hour and grab a bite to eat and noticed many spots and streaks of black, blue, and red marker on my new Duvet. Now, let me point out that little man was told twice yesterday that he was welcome to color on the night stand in the bedroom or the floor but the bed was not a place for his markers and coloring projects. So, when I saw these marks on the cover that were not there yesterday, I knew that they must have happened sometime today. Let me just say though I was not worried a bit. It was not my problem :)
M E: Cristian, can you come into my room for a minute please?
C: Yes?
M E: Can you tell me what places are good places to color in my room?
C: (Looking at the bed and mumbling)
M E: I was wondering, did you color on my bed today?
C: (Already a wreck with tears pouring down) Yes
M E: Are these marker marks on the covers from your coloring?
C: (In fit mode already) YEEEEEEEEEEEEES
M E: Oh boy...What do you think you are going to do to take care of this?
C: (Screaming and crying) Noooooo I don't want to spend my LEGO money! I can't spend my money! Noooooo (He was stomping and throwing an award winning fit)
After calmly asking him to talk in a calm voice so I could understand him and him just getting louder and tossing into a further fit I picked him up, carried him to the front door, opened it, placed him on the step in front of the door and told him to feel free to come back inside when he feels ready to talk to me in a calm voice. I left the front door open and headed back into the hallway. What do you know, he follows right behind, shuts the door and goes back to begging to keep his money for his LEGO. As soon as he saw me walk back to the front door all of a sudden the water works stopped like some drought miracle and he found his "normal" voice free of crying and whining. Imagine that.
C: I'm ready to talk about it. I'm done crying.
M E: Okay. Have you thought about how you are going to take care of this problem or do you need some ideas to help you?
C: I need some ideas (starts crying again)
L: Some kids might help their mom wash the comforter and see if the marks that the markers made come out in the wash. What do you think about that?
C: Noooooo because they AREN'T going to come out and they are going to be STUCK and it is going to be RUINED and I don't want to SPEND MY LEGO MONEY! (and back to the meltdown we go...)
Lara told him that when he was ready to talk to us in the same voice we are talking to him we would be happy to talk to him and until then he needed to leave the room because his screaming and crying was hurting our ears.
He took his meltdown into the other room and finally calmed himself down about 10 minutes later. We got dressed and headed out to grab a bite for lunch which went from 60 min to 40 min at this point.
In the car...
M E: Are you feeling better?
C: Yes.
M E: Have you thought of any ideas that might help you take care of this?
C: Mommy gave me some ideas but I don't agree with them. (I wanted to laugh SO hard at this)
M E: I see. What choices didn't you like?
C: Buying a new comforter if the washing machine doesn't take out the markers with MY LEGO MONEY! I don't want to spend my money. I want to keep my money. I HATE THIS!
M E: Wow...you sound really upset. I sure would be upset if I had to spend money that took me a long long time to save up too. That would make me so sad.
C: I'm upset. I don't want to give up my money. (back to crying but no screaming thank goodness)
L: I know.
C: I HATE this.
L: I know.
C: Mims, I want to buy my LEGO. I don't want to lose all my money!!!
M E: I know.
so this goes on for a good 5 minutes and then he just goes quiet. We ate lunch and he went back to his happy self, playing with his paper pirate ship he brought, being silly, making jokes...and in the car on his own he says..
C: "OK...I thought about it and if the washer doesn't get the marker out then I will buy a new one to fix it and then save up more pay day monies for my LEGO. But it is making me sad..."
Needless to say that since we got home he hasn't as much thought to put anything on our stuff. He was playing with his paper pirate ship on the night stand and then decided he would play on the floor instead so "it doesn't scratch anything." and then is all proud asking if that was a good idea.
I hope those markers weren't washable because better to have a lesson early in life with something small like $30 than with something bigger later in life. It may even be cheaper than that...it was from IKEA after all :)
Anyhow - there is the cliff note version of all the fun you missed at our house today. Now, don't you wish you lived here? LOL
Cheers,
M E
Post a Comment