How to...

I've realized many things Bryn does is just payback for the terror I gave my mother. I see so much of me in her, it's scary. With that being said, I've learned how to NOT be her mom. Whaaat?

I always wanted to be the kumbaya mom. No spanking because verbal discipline should be good enough. No yelling because loud noises shouldn't be the way to discipline.... Get it? Because she sure didn't.

Here is my list of how to NOT be her mom

1. Ignore her when she's whining. NOT! She will follow me, get louder, whine more, repeat my name until I'm forced to turn around and say "WHAAAAT?!"
2. Tell her "no" and expect her to understand. NOT! No means nothing to her. No? What's that word? Certainly not in her vocab.
3. That verbal discipline? NOT! If I get on to her, she says "awh" and then gives me a hug. She repeatedly does this while I'm reprimanding her. It makes it incredibly difficult to get on to her.
4. I thought "eye level" would help her to understand me when I'm correcting her. NOT! In the event that she actually realizes I'm not playing, she hits me with whatever toy is near.
5. Time out chair. You guessed it, NOT! She makes time out into some kind of entertainment factor. Such as- how long can I stand in the chair until mommy sees me?, or how loud can I scream?, or my personal favorite... How many times do I have to get up before mommy pops me and let's me go on about my business.

She's really a great kid. The Lord certainly blessed me with her. She's not perfect though. I've got my hands so full. At this point, I tried the kumbaya treatment and realized that will only result in Bryn being "that" child. However, popping her diaper only results in about 10 seconds of tears and a daredevil child who will go back to doing exactly what she got in trouble for doing in the first place.

Sorry Mom. Lift the curse please?