I don't want a ponytail.
Tears.
I do want a ponytail.
Tears.
Bubby pulled my hair.
Tears.
I pulled Bubby's hair.
Tears.
Brushing my teeth scares me.
Tears.
It's raining.
Tears.
It's sunny.
Tears.
You follow me?
It's been a rough week here. I'm trying to be compassionate, empathetic, and understanding. I won't lie, it's hard. I try to see things from her perspective, that really the idea of having (or not having) a ponytail could be earth shattering. And that her thoughts on said ponytail can change from one second to the next. I can't help but feel like I'm failing her a bit. What am I doing wrong? Why can't I get her to take a deep breath and calm down? Or why does it just have to be the idea of closing her door and she can stop crying on a dime and say, "I'm calm now." At least I know her "thing."
We don't really do time-outs, especially not for overly dramatic emotional outbursts. Obviously there's a reason she's feeling this way or needing to express herself this way. Is it just because she's three? She does well with taking a deep breath, counting to three and saying, "calm down." Mama has been needing a lot of "1-2-3 calm downs" these days too. She takes "quiet time" in her room when she (and I) need to calm down and have a little space.
I guess we'll keep going with the flow and hope that this too will pass.
What gentle parenting tools do you use with your toddler/preschooler in similar times?
(((((HUGS))))) No answers for you, just plenty of I'm-right-there-with-ya!
ReplyDeleteSame here - my toddler, Spice, is only 2, but it also seems like lately, everything is reason for a little mini-wail of pseudo-mock crying. If I acknowledge it as lightly as possible without ignoring it, it seems to pass as quickly as it came and two seconds later, she's back to playing contentedly. Really strange, but also wondering it it's just a phase.
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