Thursday, February 25, 2010

Unnecessary Roughness

These days I sometimes feel more like a referee than a mommy. The kids are just at a stage of constant misbehavior, it seems. I don't mean to say that they're terrible all the time. That's certainly not the case, but it's not surprising that they both love the word "no" since I have to say it to them about eighteen thousand times a day.

To look at this angelic little face, you would think her capable of no wrong, but you would be wrong. In fact, she has started resorting to biting to get her way. She hasn't done it to other kids besides Jake, thank goodness, but she took a nice hunk out of Jake's chest on Sunday. When I went to pick them up from the church nursery Sunday night, one of the workers informed me that she had bitten her brother & showed me the proof. He had teeth marks on his lower chest that broke the skin! I of course scolded her & made her apologize, but since I wasn't there to witness the incident, talking about it later doesn't do much good. I'm having nightmares about her being "the kid that bites" in preschool next year. Aaahhhh!!!
Jake certainly deserves your sympathy for being bitten, but don't let him off the hook too quickly. He has made a habit of pushing - scratch that, shoving - his sister lately. It's not usually even for any reason, which is what I can't figure out. He just gets really wound up & excited & starts pushing her around & laughing about it. Since he has more than a three pound lead on her, he can easily send her flying.

Cute little stinkers in their church outfits that Grandma & Grandpa gave them for Christmas
What to do, what to do? We discipline with words, time-outs & spankings when warranted. Any ideas from some of you who've been there, done that?

4 comments:

AmyB said...

I don't know but Noah bites me ALL the time and I can't figure out how to get a 10 month old to understand not to do that. His fresh little teeth hurt! I'll be right there with you on the biting preschooler thing...

Hayley said...

My girls seem to be meanest to each other as well. I was not prepared to deal with all of the biting, scratching, pushing, etc. Wish I had some words of wisdom...but I am hoping to read some here in the comments!!

Cari and Logan said...

I understand your worry, and I'm sure...since you're such a proactive mama...Mal will be just perfectly behaved once preschool gets here. I can tell you I always giggle reading your posts. Your descriptions of their crazy escapades crack me up! They are too adorable!

P.S. I FINALLY did the "Beautiful Blogger Award" you gave me! :D

kristen said...

your kids are sooo cute!! my daughter (the twin one) also is a biter!! and her brother isnt!! cracks me up. she only bites him, and not other kids, which is good. and actually, its gone away. she did it a few times and we spanked and time out-ed and she hasnt done it again. i think maybe its that they cant communicate and my daughter is impatient so she just does what she can to get her point across. i feel like they will def quit when they can really communicate...dont know if that helps, but just a little info. just love looking at your adorable kids!!