Today Gracen learned a very important lesson about playing in the bathroom! He is potty trained! Finally!! Couldn't be more happy and excited about that! He also seems to enjoy playing in the bathroom. The toilet paper is so fun, you know! Well more than once I have found a huge wad of toilet paper in the toilet, and on occasion in the trash next to the toilet. He pretty much just finds joy in wading up the toilet paper-or what I would call "wasting" toilet paper.
I have kindly explained to him that it is not okay to waste the toilet paper. Mommy has to spend her money to buy that toilet paper, and he should not be playing with it. I also explained when it is okay to use what he needs. This method didn't seem to be working so I started to threaten him that he would have to spend his money to buy more if he continued to do it.
The kid doesn't really have much money. He has a piggy bank, packed away somewhere with a little bit of change in it. Well, I had hoped the threat would help, but yesterday evening Gracen was at it again! He actually told on himself. I decided it was time to follow through with my threats. It just happened that Grandpa Thompson had given him and Brynlee a dollar earlier that day to go and get some ice cream or a treat with. His dollar was hanging on the fridge. I explained to him that he was going to have to take his dollar to the store and buy some new toilet paper, since he wasted it. Poor little guy was so, so sad about this! He cried, "What about my ice cream?" He knew that's what the dollar was for. I explained how it would work, told him he couldn't get ice cream now. He had lots of tears, but I think he understood. He kept telling me he would never play with the toilet paper again!
It was hard, but I had to follow through. Teach him that their were consequences for making bad choices. I talked to Nate about it and we decided it would be best if I took him to the store to buy his toilet paper then took Brynlee through the drive through at McDonald's to get her ice cream cone.
He was quite the little trooper. We had talked about it a lot during the day today, and on the way to the store I reminded him that he had to buy the toilet paper. We went in, I wasn't sure what to expect...tears? tantrums? Neither! He complained a bit, we found his dollar 4 pack of toilet paper, he carried it up to the cash register with his dollar in hand and gave it to the cashier and paid for it!
It was one of the cutest things ever! I felt bad for the poor kid, but he knew what he had to do!
She handed him his toilet paper (I sort of explained the situation) and his receipt and we left. No tears! No tantrums!
It wasn't until we pulled up to McDonalds so Brynlee could spend her money that he cried a little. He kept repeating how he had to buy toilet paper and couldn't have any ice cream!
He's over it now! Really, he didn't get too upset about it! I think he understood, and HOPE he won't be playing in the bathroom anymore!
Lesson Learned!
(To Grandpa: Sorry! I know that dollar was for ice cream, but he learned a very important lesson!)
About a week ago, Brynlee had the opportunity to learn about fairness. She got into the habit of saying, "But that's NOT FAIR!" She said it so much it was driving me crazy! I had tried explaining to her that that is the way things are. Nothing is fair. She didn't get it.
One night last week I was reading a book. It's called The Parenting Breakthrough. It's basically a book about teaching your kids to become self sufficient. I was at a part in the book that talked about this terrible habit of saying "but that's not fair." Brynlee was sitting on the floor playing with Nate and I'm not sure why she said it, but those lovely little words came out of her mouth.
So I took the opportunity to tell her this little story in the book I was reading. It was about a mom and dad who had a baby and named him Ralph. A couple years later they had another baby and just to keep things "fair" they named her Ralph too! A couple years later, they had one more baby, named him Ralph. In order for things to be fair, all of the children had to wear diapers (cause baby had to), sleep in a crib, take multiple naps a day, etc. Basically just do the same things baby Ralph did to make sure things were always "fair" for all their children!
She is no longer a user of the sentence. If she hears Gracen say it she freaks out, and tells him they don't want things to be fair! I LOVE it! She got it so quickly! I really didn't have much expectations for it, but she has really grasped the concept that things aren't always fair for everyone.
Earlier this morning I heard her say, "No fair" about something. I called her out on it. She was instantly in tears that she didn't want things to be fair. It was too funny!
Lesson learned!
I just adore these two little monkeys of mine!
