Chance got grounded for the first time ever today in his 4 years of life.
Usually, I just do time-outs or certain toys get “time-outs” if he can’t share. Well… today, he chose to ignore me when I asked him to pick up the toys he had pulled out. For those who KNOW my child, you’ll know he’s actually quite clean and tidy. He doesn’t usually play with more than 2 different toys at a time. For some reason, today, he emptied out the whole toy box AND toy shelf, as well as EVERY CONTAINER that held small toys.
Here’s what my family room usually looks like (with the bouncing kid):
And here’s what it looked like when I asked Chance to clean it:
What you don’t see are the two buckets of legos that spilled INTO the kitchen and dining area. It was ridiculous!
I gave him the option the FIFTH time I asked him (I usually give him three warnings MAX… I guess I was feeling gracious today) of me cleaning it up for him, but that would mean he would be grounded and not have access to his toys for the REST OF THE DAY. He said, “I want YOU to clean it up.”
Ok.
So… I grounded him from all his toys for the rest of the day. ALL HIS TOYS. Really… what was I thinking?
I think the hardest part for Chance was watching Paxton play with HIS toys and not being able to ask him not to. OUCH!
I finally gave Chance some hope. I said, “Honey, you can earn your toys back after your quiet time/nap if you really help Mommy out by doing some extra stuff to help out around the house.” He agreed. Chance asked me multiple times during the day if he could play with certain toys. I had to keep reminding him that he chose to be grounded. We definitely got to dialogue about disobedience and consequences. He was pretty much an angel the rest of the day.
We read.
We practiced writing our letters.
We colored.
We twirled.
We wrestled.
We counted to 100… 100 times.
We sang songs… and made some up with the word “poop” in it.
We baked chocolate coconut bars.
We cleaned up Paxton’s toys.
It was all going SO well… then right before dinner, Chance started playing a bit rough with Paxton. When I asked him to stop, he didn’t listen. He didn’t get a second warning. The negotiations were off the table.
Chance was mortified.
He apologized and BEGGED me change my mind, but it was too late. He made his decision by not obeying.
I reassured him that tomorrow is another day and he gets to start the day with all his toys. It’s up to him whether he chooses to keep that privilege or not.
How old were you/your kids when you/they first got grounded?
Grounded? What does that mean? This has never happened to me.
yes. we know.
i thought he got grounded from his toys the last time i visited… or was like a timeout for a little while? either way, i just remember you yelling expletives at him until he picked them all up.
just kidding.
um… yeah. he’s never been grounded from all his toys. you must have a shotty memory. like i said in the post, he’s had certain toys go on a “time out” but never all his toys.
and as for the expletives… that was you yelling them. but i can understand it being difficult to remember seeing how much you drink all the time, drunkard.
“he made his decision by not obeying.”
i do that to Him, too.