Man oh man. Don’t let this adorable smile fool you – we had quite the morning. It’s tough creating boundaries with toddlers and sometimes you aren’t certain whether you are picking the right battles. On one hand, you don’t want your kid to suffer because they were having a tough day and you aren’t being supportive. On the other hand, you want them to learn to help themselves as well.
On one hand, you don’t want your kid to suffer because they were having a tough day and you aren’t being supportive. On the other hand, you want them to learn to help themselves as well.
K woke up and I could tell she was having a hard time. Jason got her some dry cheerios and she wanted to eat them on the couch and watch tv while I fed Isabelle, which we let her do in the mornings. So he set her bowl on the coffee table and she pointed at it and said “Daddy get it.” Jason said she could reach it herself but that he would help her, so he grabbed the bowl and held it halfway to where she was on the couch and she reluctantly reached the rest of the way to grab the bowl.
At this point it was a game to see what she could get away with.
She took a couple of bites, set the bowl back on the coffee table, and then pointed again and said “Daddy get it.” At this point it was a game to see what she could get away with. Jason gently told her she could get it herself this time and went back to bed. Instead of getting it herself, she got mad and threw a tantrum. In the bedroom, on the floor next to Jason, for a solid 10 minutes, thrashing around and crying “Daddy get it!!” She obviously had to walk past her cheerios on the table to walk to the bedroom, but was mad Jason wouldn’t give in to her demands.
In my head, the whole thing seems so stupid.
I know she was having a rough day today, and I get it. I tried talking to her during her tantrum, I told her I would sit with her while she reached for the bowl herself, etc. And in my head, the whole thing seems so stupid. Like our kid is losing it because we won’t hand her cheerios. It would take 2 seconds for us to do. But we also don’t want her walking around demanding people do things for her that she can do for herself, because we want her to be a well-adjusted adult. Times like this it’s so hard to tell if you’re being mean and unsupportive, or standing your ground.
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