High Maintenance Mom

Every once in a while I find that I need to go back to basics when it comes to discipline. After a slow start to summer here in New England we jumped head first into weekend beach trips, airplane rides to see grandparents and a fun trip to NYC. That being said, discipline seems to fall by the wayside when kids are knee deep in sand castles, grandparents and sight seeing.... Now that we have a full week at home (aside from my daughter in camp in the morning), I have decided to dedicate the week to getting back to basics with discipline. Monday got off to a good start until the kids, post nap, forgot how to play alongside each other. Both jumped right into screaming, grabbing and some occasional biting by my 21 months old. I have read a lot of discipline books and while there isnt one particular one that is my bible, there are a few rules that work for me. Firm time outs for my 21 month old work well but yesterday, it took 3 in a row for him to understand he could not grab toys from his sisters hands. I show little to no emotion as I tell him firmly to go to time out. Once he has been there for a minute per year of age, I tell him why he is there, ask for an apology (or one for my daughter) and then let him leave. Taking away upcoming events or her prized hour of TV does it for my 3 1/2 year old. Being persistent and thinking before I say things helps a lot. If I tell my daughter that I will cancel our trip to the farm if she continues whining about something, I better be ready to follow through. I remind myself that yelling and screaming doesn't help either. Sometimes that is very hard to do. My 21 month old is in a screaming phase and it is ear piercing. I promised myself that I would nip this in the bud this week. My 3 1/2 year old has fallen back on whining that with the help of her teachers at camp, wont last much longer. Once I am back on track with these basics I am going to move on with some harder issues. My son, while talking more and more each day, often falls back on pointing and grunting. My husband and I both tell him to "use words" to get him out of this stage. So, this week is back to basics and then it's onward to more discipline challenges. There's always something, right!