I’m a firm believer in picking your battles and letting the
little things slide so I can stand my ground on the big things. Unfortunately,
in my attempts to use a more peaceful parenting method, I may have occasionally
started choosing the easy road with my children and they are well aware that
sometimes, Mommy just gives in.
Yesterday morning I was making smoothies for breakfast with
the help of my boy Simba. He loves to blend the spinach and watch the water turn
green before scooping all the yummy deliciousness into the mix. I recently
purchased a new bag of goji berries and it quickly became obvious that the
little handful I gave him to eat while we blended was not going to be sufficient today.
He happily took his little bowl of goji berries to the table and promptly spilled them on the ground. Simba then commanded me to pick them back up, to which I
refused.
He started to bawl and power struggle ensued. Aware that I have been
giving in far too much lately (because it’s easy), I stood my ground and told
him to pick up his goji berries. He continued to cry and ignored my offers to
HELP him pick up his berries.
A few moments later I made a trip to the potty and upon my
return three year old Simba informed me he had peed in his pants, all over the
chair and onto the floor. It is worth noting here that he IS potty trained and
although he occasionally has accidents, more often than not, his accidents are actually quite purposeful.
Then he looked right at me, picked a wet goji berry up off
his chair and was about to eat it when I snatched it out of his hand and told
him he couldn’t eat it. I proceeded to clean up the
pee and the soiled goji berries, got him some new pants and finally sat down to
eat my breakfast.
It wasn’t until I was sitting at work later that morning that I realized that I
had in fact lost that battle; my boy wanted me to pick up his goji berries and
I did.
When did he get so smart?
