Tuesday, November 27, 2007

"Tough" "Love"

Paco was just out of control temper tantrum this morning.

It was stressful, very stressful.

Nothing I did could calm him down.

At moments like this, when you are exhausted (it began at 4.30am when I wouldn't let him crawl in bed with me), all of the "expert parenting advice" stuff that you read goes out the window.

You are in survival mode.

In hindsight, I think I did too much "tough" and not enough "love."

Usually, he responds to cause-and-effect punishments, like losing DVD-watching privileges or "no popsicles" or taking away a favorite book.

But when you do three or four of these with no results, it may be too much.

And I've done it in the past, just held him (or Tonka) close, gave a hug and talked in a soft voice.

But, in high stress moments, it's not always so easy.

Another live and learn moment, I guess.

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