I’ll admit it. My newly turned 10-year old has turned into one of those sullen, “I’m only going to smile when no one expects me to…” kids that I swore I’d never have. At first I tried all of the tactics I knew wouldn’t work, but seemed like a good idea…
“You know, you might think you look cool now, but when you’re older and you look at pictures you’ll realize how cranky you look.” I actually said that! Yeah, that didn’t work.
“Why are you so mean to your sister? She’s not mean to you. You will NOT be mean to her in this house, do you understand?” Another extremely ineffective technique.
I guess I have to cut myself some slack. It is the middle of the summer and even I have forgotten some of my best techniques. I’ve always said that my parenting skills are best when I’m in the middle of teaching a class. Well, I don’t teach in the summer, and it shows.
Once it finally dawned on me what I was doing wrong, I tried a different tactic. Instead of threatening or lecturing, I simply presented the offending child with a list of extra jobs around the house and said,
“Here are some jobs that will replenish my energy that was drained by your bad attitude. When those jobs are done, I’d be glad to help you finish packing for camp.”
And you know what? It worked. I’m guessing he didn’t want to find out what would happen if he had a bad attitude while completing the extra chores, because he actually got through them with a smile on his face. The first I’d seen in awhile. Yes, it did take him so long that I thought he might have to go to camp with only the clothes on his back, but he did come through, as he always does when I remember to use my best parenting skills. Imagine that. And the bonus? My kid-free camp week started with a very clean house!