Rules, Renegades, and Time Outs

Image Credit: www.mommypage,com

My youngest is a force to be reckoned with, and I have the bruises on my noggin from the many times we’ve butted heads. Mind you. I’m just as stubborn, if not more. No matter how tenacious and precocious my kids are, they aren’t brats. However, they are fierce.

So back to my youngest…she has her rules. It doesn’t matter if you agree. It doesn’t matter if you understand. You just need to know them and follow them. That’s our diva’s declaration.

For starters, here is some of her ever-evolving set of rules:

1. If it's hers, you and everyone need to know it’s hers.
2. If it's yours, you should consider making it hers.
3. If she likes it, it should be hers.
4. If she can sneak it away from you, it’s secretly hers.
5. If she puts it down, it doesn’t matter. It’s still secretly hers.
6. If it has anything to do with lovebirds or any animal she likes, it’s hers by default.
7. If you lose it and she finds it with her things, she will claim it to be hers.
8. If you fight her about its ownership, she will challenge you and try to convince you it’s hers.
9. If you win that argument, it’s hers when you’re not looking.
10. If it’s broken, then it’s yours. … Unless you fix it, then it’s hers again.

Among our three kids, we have come to realize that our youngest tip toes to her own drum beat. Being the baby of the family, she tends to get away with a lot more things, because she’s just pretty darn cute. We try not to feed the beast, we just let the cuteness overload give us temporary bouts of insanity when we give her what she wants. 

Must. Try. To. Resist.

There are times, however, when I do put my foot down. When she was two years old, my daughter was fascinated with technology. I downloaded apps for toddlers, and she loved them. Actually, she loved them a little too much.

One day, I wanted to give her a break from it all. I told her she couldn’t play on my iPad. 

WHAAAAAAAAT?

Well, she folded her little arms and told me she could. It was on!

*Cue the Western gun duel music*

Scene from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."

 Me: "No. I said no."

Her: "I said yes."

*stare down*

Me: "If you don’t put it down, you will go to time out."

Her: "No. I don't wanna."
Me: "Put my iPad down!"
Her: *hugging it* "I said ... NO!"

*escort little diva to time out*

After her time was up, I called her over to talk about why she was disciplined and told her she needed to apologize to me.

Me: "Do you know why you need to say you’re sorry?"

Her: *Pause ... nods her head*

Me: "Okay. Go ahead and apologize."

Her: "I’m sorry … that you’re being mean to me."

*Sigh ... face plant and shaking my head* 

Sometimes, when dealing with other people’s  rules, you have to choose your battles. However, when you're dealing with a diva toddler, you might as well accept that you're dealing with a whole other set of rules.