Habits

Maybe I'm tired of feeling harrassed.

Or

Maybe I'm just tired.

But both kids are in time out for 10 minutes and they are not to shout any orders or command a single move in my direction.

We've worked on this since day one, but, while we have made a ton of progress in this area, we are far from having reached our goal.

I hear Mom, momma, Mommy, MOOOOOOOOOM, Mama! all day long. The expect to be served in an instant. They have no patience to wait for me. They scarf down the first plate of food in a nano-second and start hollering for more food.

Please! Just wait. Just be quiet. Close your lips and wait.

SO, before lunch even started I said, "Please, don't holler at me. Don't ask. I WILL take care of you. I will bring you what you need. I might even ask you what you would like, just DON"T ASK for anything right now or I'm going to put you in time out. I am SERIOUS!!"

Fifteen seconds later...

They are both in time out.

So hard to break bad habits!

What would you do?

At potluck I served them each a plate, but only having two hands I did not have their forks and had to go back for them.  I asked them to wait quietly. Thirty seconds later I come back to find them eating with their hands!!

ACK!!

I took them away from the table to talk in private and warned them they could be driven home . . .

I made them fold their hands and wait until the other children at the table had their food.

In a sense it's going after gnats in comparison to some of the stuff we deal with, but it drives me batty.

* Missy has not had an accident since I told her I was serious about not letting her play with friends until she chose to keep her panties clean. This is proving my mind-over-matter theory. She also has not screamed much lately. She isn't obedient, so unfortunately, it isn't a change of heart... :-p, I'm thinking the magnesium is calming her nerves, though, maybe she is recognizing that she just plain doesn't need to scream.