The "Terrible Twos"...completely understated. My children have drawn me to tears with their relentless whining, disobeying and pushing of buttons. I'm a firm believer in spankings. Love it or hate it, it's the way I was raised and I've seen it work. Spare the rod, spoil the child. However, my youngest is, uh....special. He's a tank with a head of granite and a rear end made of concrete. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong, but spankings actually don't work for this kid. The last few days have been awful. He got to the point where he wouldn't even acknowledge I was calling him. Completely ignored me. My breaking point and I were about to become very close friends.
Then, one magical moment occurred. We realized he hates the corner. A friend of ours was watching the boys for a few minutes so I could get my car inspected. While I was away, my youngest pushed his buttons too, and then he got sent to the corner. Standing inches away from the wall, not allowed to look behind him, talk, sit down, or touch the wall, we learned the way that boy needs to be punished.
He might still be disobeying, but he's being punished, I'm not yelling and screaming, and once his punishment is over, he does what I tell him too. He tried to refuse his dinner last night, and after just three minutes in the corner, came back to his seat and ate his whole plate. That's what I call progress.
The point here is be flexible. If a certain punishment isn't working, try something different. Let someone else give you advice. Many times we're so close to the situation (and thankfully not the one from The Jersey Shore) that we can't see the right answer even if it's in front of our face. Albert Einstein said, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." It's the same for parenting as well.
Instead of breaking, perhaps we should just bend.
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