Developing the Meaning of No
First off, I do not pretend to know all of the parenting answers, I only know my personal ideal parenting style and I'm secure enough to know that my idea of an ideal parenting style could change drastically and quickly depending on experience, further knowledge and situation. I also know that my preferred way of parenting is not anyone else's and I fully believe that is okay. I am no way judging the parent I'm writing about, and instead using it as an example of how I want to do things differently in my family.
With that said...
Last night we attended a high school football game here in town. It was a nice night and while I'm not a big football fan, I do enjoy the atmosphere. There were four parents sitting a row behind us - I don't know if they were parents of a player or not but at least one of the two couples had two younger daughters with them. The girls were probably 7 and 9 and they kept going down onto the track and doing cartwheels and such. The cheerleaders were in a different spot so I think they assumed it was fine to be there. The dad yelled down at them a few times to get off the track and get back in the bleachers. Each time they would but it wasn't long before they were back down there.
At one point I overheard the two couples talking and I heard the dad of the girls saying something along the lines of "I'm always having to tell them, 'I've already told you no twice and you still are doing it' I don't know why they won't listen."
I'm not a parenting expert, but maybe it's because they know that you will simply keep saying stop, or no while you sit there just shaking your head wondering why they aren't listening.
Now I realize my daughter isn't at the age where we've had this battle yet, so I cannot say for sure how I will respond when she is not listening to instructions. Currently telling her no and distracting her does the trick. She might throw a mini fit where she throws herself on the floor for a second, and I leave her be to let her have a moment and then she's on to something else. My hope though, is that I can teach her that if I've asked her to do or not do something I'm not going to just keep saying it until I give up and leave her alone about it. My hope is that if she's doing something I do not approve of and I tell her to stop and she doesn't, that I will get off my butt and remove her from the situation - and that she knows that if I have to drag my lazy butt up that it means she's in trouble. If I don't why would she ever respond to my requests? "Oh mom is throwing out her random suggestions again..."
I do not want to be the type of parent that throws out empty threats of discipline and never follows through because I don't feel like it. (Huge pet peeve is when I hear parents say, "If you don't come here right now I am throwing your _____ away when we get home." When they know they won't actually be throwing away that expensive game they bought - or a threat of "If you don't stop we're leaving" when the parent knows they aren't going to leave... threats are fine as long as they are a realistic threat that you are actually able/willing to follow through on - but that's a whole different post)
In real life if we repeatedly speed pass a police officer every morning on the way to work he isn't going to keep flashing his headlights at us telling us to slow down while he sits in his car shaking his head thinking, "I keep asking you to slow down and I don't know why you won't". We might get one or two warnings but then he's going to pull us over and give us a ticket. I want our children to know that I realize they are children and that I will reiterate my expectations to them in the event they have forgotten, but once they've been reminded if they continue to do the said behavior I will follow through on removing them from the situation, even it inconveniences me (such as having to get up where I was comfy and have them come sit next to me if they are unable to come sit by me if I've asked them to).
Now if I can just remember this post in a few years so that I don't just sit repeatedly saying no for the 6th time without reacting to the situation...
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Completely agree with you here. It bugs me when parents say their kids never listen and they never actually do anything to make the kids even attempt to behave and listen. My oldest is 7 and she certainly tests our boundaries, however, when she misbehaves, she loses something each time. She has gone an entire week before with no snacks, nothing but water to drink, no games or tv and no movie at night. If parents threaten, they should be able to follow through!
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