Clean
In the not-so-distant past, we had a whopper of a night. Colin was coloring as I made dinner, and was not pleased with my request that he put the crayons away and get ready for dinner. And by "not pleased" I mean he swiped his hand across the kitchen table knocking the crayons to the floor, shouting "NO!"
That is not the reaction and behavior that I was looking for, and as you can imagine I wasn't too pleased with him. I got him up out of his chair, and instructed him to pick up all of the crayons and put them back in the bin. Colin started crying and refused, flopping in a heap on the kitchen floor. I finally got him to pick up a crayon. He stood up, and... very casually, and clearly intentionally, draped his hand behind him as he took a couple of steps back toward the table, drawing a big blue line on my kitchen wall.
KID, ARE YOU NUTS?!?!?!
"Colin, you don't ever, EVER write on the walls. You only draw on your paper! You're in really big trouble." Then the dreaded... "I'm going to have to tell Daddy when he gets home, and he is going to be REALLY disappointed. And you know what? Here!" ( handing him a baby wipe) "Because of the bad decision you made, now you get to clean my walls."
As he sobbed, Colin used the baby wipe and scrubbed away every trace of the line he drew. Then I walked him around the kitchen and had him scrub every last little food spatter that he, Ryan and Sydney had made. He clearly knew he'd made a serious mistake, because he never complained - just scrubbed furiously until each speck was gone. (Ryan followed him around, helping point out any little specks that he found. 'Cause brothers are great like that!) And while Colin was scrubbing Hari walked in... Colin paused, then resumed scrubbing (and crying), afraid to look up as I told Hari what had happened.
By that time every wall in the kitchen was spotless, so I took the wipe from him, threw it out, and told him that now he needed to go talk to Daddy. Colin walked into the living room, sat on the sofa, and became so hysterical he could barely function. It was bad enough he'd been in trouble with me, but now Daddy was disappointed too... YIKES!
Hari had a little talk with him, but nothing major since clearly he'd already been sufficiently traumatized. And that was that. Colin has a complete understanding that crayons (and pens, and pencils, and paint) are for drawing on paper, not on the walls and my kitchen walls are spotless. At least they were for a little while... between Sydney and Ryan the splatters still continue and really need scrubbing, but I don't think Colin will make that mistake again any time soon!
That is not the reaction and behavior that I was looking for, and as you can imagine I wasn't too pleased with him. I got him up out of his chair, and instructed him to pick up all of the crayons and put them back in the bin. Colin started crying and refused, flopping in a heap on the kitchen floor. I finally got him to pick up a crayon. He stood up, and... very casually, and clearly intentionally, draped his hand behind him as he took a couple of steps back toward the table, drawing a big blue line on my kitchen wall.
KID, ARE YOU NUTS?!?!?!
"Colin, you don't ever, EVER write on the walls. You only draw on your paper! You're in really big trouble." Then the dreaded... "I'm going to have to tell Daddy when he gets home, and he is going to be REALLY disappointed. And you know what? Here!" ( handing him a baby wipe) "Because of the bad decision you made, now you get to clean my walls."
As he sobbed, Colin used the baby wipe and scrubbed away every trace of the line he drew. Then I walked him around the kitchen and had him scrub every last little food spatter that he, Ryan and Sydney had made. He clearly knew he'd made a serious mistake, because he never complained - just scrubbed furiously until each speck was gone. (Ryan followed him around, helping point out any little specks that he found. 'Cause brothers are great like that!) And while Colin was scrubbing Hari walked in... Colin paused, then resumed scrubbing (and crying), afraid to look up as I told Hari what had happened.
By that time every wall in the kitchen was spotless, so I took the wipe from him, threw it out, and told him that now he needed to go talk to Daddy. Colin walked into the living room, sat on the sofa, and became so hysterical he could barely function. It was bad enough he'd been in trouble with me, but now Daddy was disappointed too... YIKES!
Hari had a little talk with him, but nothing major since clearly he'd already been sufficiently traumatized. And that was that. Colin has a complete understanding that crayons (and pens, and pencils, and paint) are for drawing on paper, not on the walls and my kitchen walls are spotless. At least they were for a little while... between Sydney and Ryan the splatters still continue and really need scrubbing, but I don't think Colin will make that mistake again any time soon!
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