Sunday, July 23, 2006

Anger Management

This evening, I was doing something in the kitchen and Stephen came in and asked if he could do something....I don't even remember now what it was. I told him no and he asked again. I told him the answer was still no. He's had a quick temper lately and he immediately gave me his angry face and said, "I'm going to SMACK myself!!" I guess he figured this was the closest he could get to talking back to me without having to get ugly (and then subsequently disciplined). And I suppose he thought that that would cut me to the core. It kinda made me giggle, but I couldn't let him see me do that. But then what could I say to that? He wasn't threatening me or anyone else. He wasn't really disrespecting me...just showing me he was mad. And I've been working with him on better ways to handle his anger. So I let it go as he walked out of the kitchen and I said, "Whatever you think you have to do..."

This situation tonight reminds me of something he said to me the other day....I wouldn't let him play with play-doh because we were getting ready to walk out the door. He was mad because I had told him he could play with play-doh earlier in the day but then we just ran out of time. I could tell that he really was mad and after he went to his room to holler and scream and hit his bed (the "better" ways of handling his anger that I mentioned before), he yelled through the house, "MOM, I am YELLING at you!!!"

Bless him...

5 comments:

beth said...

You know, just in case you weren't aware - he's yelling at YOU! Not sure how you can keep a straight face with some of those quotes. Hopefully he didn't really smack himself.

Thanks for the link. I'll happily do the same.

beth said...

ok, I just tried to do the link and for some reason' my parents' computer is being mean. I'll link you when I get home.

mamashine said...

Dear boy. Being three is hard work. I've got a daycare boy that thinks smacking himself will punish me also. He does it, then cries because he was a little too enthusiastic, and I just say, "wow, not a good choice, huh?" :)

Alli said...

No, he didn't really smack himself. I think those were just the only words at the time that he could say that would make him feel better. After he said it, that was the end of that, so obviously it was some kind of release.

Beth-glad to see you around!:) I found you through kep and ksl. And I've found some other blogs through you that I like, but haven't added those yet.

KatieBug said...

Don't you just love how they come up with ways to punish us? Bubby went through a thing where he would fling himself over and hit the back of his head on the floor when he was mad. He only did it on the tile floor a few times and he learned it hurt him more than it hurt me the only time he did it on the sidewalk. Oh the joys! :)