I constantly battle that line between letting kids be kids and correcting destructive behavior. When my strong-willed toddler insists on his independence, I hate the moment's point of truth that forces an immediate decision. My introverted brain needs to process a plan of action, yet toddlers brake for no personality type.
Today's battle was macaroni and cheese. Who knew that blue box could be so sinister. My son insisted on trying to open it by himself. The entire time, I cringed, "It's going to explode. It's going to explode. It's going to explode." Sure enough, KABOOM! Noodles clattered all over the kitchen floor. I was irritated. Will was horrified.
As we swept up the scattered elbows, I reminded myself that this is part of the learning process--for both Will and me. While we could spend 99% of the day teaching him to obey mommy or to let mommy do the work, I need to recognize his need to make decisions and experience the results. The hardest part is I usually know exactly what those results will be--an inconvenient mess.
As I battle between guiding his decisions and letting him experiment, I have to be flexible enough to face the results. I've learned that an exploding box of macaroni and cheese can be better than a boring, just-dump-it-in-the-water box. Fortunately, my well-stocked cupboard yielded another blue savior, and we soon feasted on the orange goodness--with double the cheese! Sometimes even the little stressors of the day can turn out extra yummy.
First of all, we had almost the same experience today, blue box and all. It sounds as though E and W are still as similar as they were at birth!!!
ReplyDeleteSecond, thank you for writing this!! We are having a "terrible twos" spell and it's nice to have the reminder that we frustrate them as much as they frustrate us sometimes ;-)