A Picture Says 1,000 Words...Or Does It?

Yesterday was a rough one in the Worster household.

Sarah gets 15 minutes of computer time in the morning before school. Danny is very interested in the computer, and in anything his sister is doing. (That's his job as a 2 year old, right?) The computer was "acting up" as I like to say yesterday morning, causing Sarah to become frustrated, which for her, translates to angry. She lashed out at Dan, hitting him and calling him stupid. Punishment: computer gone for the day.

When it was time to leave for school, Sarah would not leave the office. Punishment: TV gone for the day. Result: more yelling and hitting Danny.

I have struggled with different ideas, but I finally decided that Sarah and I needed to have a real talk. One that doesn't occur in the heat of battle. One in which (hopefully) she would willingly participate. So, yesterday evening, Sarah and I, a pot of tea, 4 homemade chocolate chip cookies, paper and a pencil, went to the lower level room to have a conversation. She was excited about the food, and felt like a big girl. She said "I didn't know that we needed to have paper." She didn't seem concerned about anything else...just the paper.

We brainstormed some ideas of things to do when one feel frustrated or angry. We discussed that it is okay, and NORMAL to feel angry sometimes, but it's never okay to be mean. She seemed to understand. She told me what the punishment should be when she is mean. Today, we will make a list of these things to post in her room. I hope it works!!

Oh...and the picture, which I will post later, is of the craft we did yesterday evening. Amidst all the chaos, we did a craft that took 15 minutes. If you just look at the picture, you'd never guess all this other "stuff" was going on!