Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Mixed Messages

"We don't hit," I say to Matthew, over and over.

He's in a challenging phase right now. He wants something -- the coffee pot, for instance -- and I am foiling his plan. For NO reason, I will not let him play with the coffee pot! He's frustrated. "COFFEE!" he demands. "HOT COFFEE. I PLAY. BURN." When, despite his well-worded request, I still resist, he can not tolerate it. He hits me.

And, it's off to a time out for Matthew. "We don't hit!" I admonish him.

"Oh. Right," he responds.

So what better way to reinforce our no-hitting rule than to spend an evening pummeling our friends?


And then there's the play kitchen. "Hey Matthew," I say. "Get me a cup of nice hot coffee, would you?"


No wonder the poor kid is confused.

2 comments:

Grandma Linda said...

Yes, life can be very confusing. Matthew will figure it out though.

Meanwhile, you might want to ask him to get you a nice pretend cup of cold coffe, because you don't want to get a pretend burned tongue.

Grandma Linda said...

Second thought. I wonder if instead of asking Matthew if he wants milk, you should ask him if he wants soy milk. Then he could learn to ask for correct thing. This might come in handy when he goes to school.