The Pushing Phase

It's a shame that kids don't come with a manual.  You may remember the post I wrote way back when about Princess being pushed by another tot.  I was pissed, I can't front.  It's one thing when you hear that your child was pushed, but it's a whole other ball game seeing it all go down.  However, the tables have since turned.

Now Princess is the one doing the shoving.  She's made a bunch of friends at daycare.  They roll pretty tight around campus.  But, they have a tendency to push each other.  It happens so often, I lose track of who pushed first.  I know this is a phase.  I know Princess will grow out of it.  But, I think it's important to teach her right from wrong.

I dropped her off at daycare the other day, and as I was leaving I saw Princess shove one of her friends.

"That's not nice.  Say you're sorry!" I demanded.
"No." She responded.
"If you don't say you're sorry, then no TV tonight."  I said.

I asked myself, What the heck did I just do?  But, then I realized that she has to learn one way or another.  She's officially on punishment.  On my way home, I called my mom and filled her in on the plan of action.  We decided no TV for one hour should teach her a lesson.  Plus, she had to read this anti-bullying book with Grandma.

Sure enough when they got home later that evening, my mom said Princess was having so much fun reading.  I thought being on punishment is supposed to be torture.  That wasn't the case for my little girl.  Grandma asked if she understood why she couldn't watch TV, Princess answered yes.  I won't read into this thing too deeply.  As long as she understands why, that's all I care about.  She also read a ton of other books with Grandma.

I think she forgot all about watching TV.  Hopefully, there'll be no more episodes of pushing.


Has your little one gone through this phase? Have you ever put your toddler on punishment?

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