Yes, that’s the question I posed to my happily headstrong six year-old son this morning. It’s the latest installment in the epic battles between the 500Jerk parents and Boy Wonder, an unfailingly upbeat person impervious to any sort of discipline.
Take his toys away? He’s glad to play with his shoes. Give him a timeout on the stairs? He makes a game of sliding down them. Send him to bed? He sings and plays in bed. Talk sternly to him? His initially respectful visage slowly morphs into a parody of your own, until you can’t help but crack up.
He is energetic, self-reliant, crafty, comic, brave, adorable, and smarter than all get out. I don’t know what to do with him. He sees you coming before you know it yourself. THIS. CHILD. CANNOT. BE. CONTROLLED.
Hence, this morning’s question, which I admit, did bring him up short. I think I may have momentarily scared him out of obstinacy. And maybe scaring him isn’t such a bad thing. But it won’t last, and it’s not a good long-term solution.
How do you solve a problem like Boy Wonder?
2 comments:
That's a hard one. I have one like that and he is now in high school. It's just he has so much energy.
I know many people don't believe in spanking, but that was the only way I could get my son to listen. I had to spank him to get him to even stay in "time-out"!
Just stay patient with him. I find giving only two choices also helps. You can either do this or you can lose this or do that.
Hope that helps some!
I really try to be patient. But the hardest thing is trying not too laugh because he is so outrageous. Thanks for the encouraging words!
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