Well, that didn't work. Sick of hearing the "he hit me" "no I didn't" "he started it" chorus from the usual suspects, I decided to try a little reverse psycology on my test subjects (aka: Alex and James).
James (amongst a throng of tears): Alex hit me
Alex stands there grinning because he knows I know
Me: okay, smack him across the face
Now, believe me, I don't usually condone violence, and I've been trying my level best to get them to stop this nonsense, but brilliant me thought that Alex might pause and realize the error of his ways because, no, he didn't want to get hit.
No, Alex laughed. A lot.
Me: Why are you laughing?
Alex: Because he can't hit me hard enough. Go ahead, James, try!
And of course, James did throw a pretty pathetic punch in his general direction, which led to the two of them running after each other laughing and trying to catch each other, with me in hot pursuit yelling, "I was kidding, you're not supposed to want to hit each other or get hit!"
I wonder what my next act of brilliant parenting will be??
6 comments:
Oh man! I hear ya, homie! I bet Katie is as innocent as can be in all this, right? My Katerina is a little trouble maker and when Michael, Teresa AND Katerina are all in disagreement about who hit whom, it's daily chaos!
(I have to admit, at the end of a long day like that, my response to, "Michael hurt me." once was, "Well, go hit him back!"
Yeah, that was a particularly crazy day! But I don't think Kat ever actually followed through on my crazy idea. I think she figured Mommy was kidding.....right?
I'm still trying to figure out how to handle these things. I can't play referee all day, esp. when I don't see it all go down! Ungh.
Anne,
Sorry about not returning your message, it has been a hectic time at the house and work. Anyway, what Bridget said. B and I will try to call soon.
No problemo--I totally understand!
If I am within earshot of the original injury/kerfuffle, then I will punish the original offender. However, if my children come running from the playroom, all crying/yelling/talking at once to get their versions in first, I stop them after about 3 seconds and announce, "I don't care!!!" You see, I'm still louder than they are, and it stops them in their tracks. It's all about my sanity you understand. I really don't care who did what, usually everyone is at fault to some extent, and I tell them to figure it out themselves or they can all go to bed. That usually results in them turning on their heels and muttering their way back up to the playroom. Works for me!
is that dr. ray sanctioned?? :)
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