Desperation

I have this little boy who's just a couple months away from turning 6. He just started kindergarten and has his first loose tooth. And this summer he started playing in the front yard with the neighbor kids for the first time. He loves playing out front. He obsesses about playing in the front yard with his friends. Almost to the point of making his mom go crazy. He doesn't seem to grasp the idea that he may get out of school at 11 AM but his older friends don't until much later. He wants to knock on their doors as soon as we get home from school and EVERY day I have to explain that they are still in school.

The upside to his obsession is that I now have a very effective bargaining tool. In the last month Josh has been grounded from playing with his friends 3 times. Finally something that works (most of the time).

"Josh if you don't stop ranting and complaining, you will not get to go out and play with your friends this afternoon."

That's all I have to say and most of the time it works. He stops. Reluctantly, but he stops.

"If you throw a fit when I tell you it is time to come in, you will not get to go outside and play with your friends at all tomorrow."

Very effective, most of the time.

Josh got grounded a few days ago for talking snotty to me and he was so upset about it. He spent some time in his room crying and trying to compose himself. I'm sure like most kids, when he gets a punishment that he really doesn't like, he tries to come up with a better one.

"How about instead of not going outside you take my Legos away for a whole month."

I told him no and that the punishment was final. He went to his room and cried for a bit more but he eventually got over it. A little later Shad came home from work and headed to our bedroom to put his stuff away when I heard him ask, "What's this about?"

Apparently Josh took matters into his own hands when I thought he was in his room cooling down. He was so desperate to get to play outside that he willingly, on his own accord, took all of his Legos away from himself.

Nice try, Buddy, but you get all your Legos back. Oh, and, you are still not going outside today. Poor guy, at least he tried.