How do you deal with demands from your children?
It's driving me insane ... my kids seem to have forgotten who is boss around here.
Brenna is the worst ... she's three and she's going to test the boss theory ... She'll walk right up and tell me "Get me a drink". I usually just have to look at her and say "excuse me?" for her to rephrase her request but once in a while she gets stubburn and it turns into a fit.
Zachary is a whiner and while he won't demand something, he will lay on the floor and whine that he is hungry without ever asking for anything to eat or after being asked to wait a minute so I can finish what I'm doing. If he walks up to me and says "I'm hungry", I usually reply back "Yea, me too" or "I'm sorry" and go back to what I was doing. Sometimes he gets the hint that he needs to ask politely and sometimes it sets him into whine mode.
Haley doesn't demand as much as she tries to tell me how it is. This is an actual conversation we had a few days ago. "Mom, you need to sign the paper I left on the desk". "No, I don't have to sign anything". "YES, YOU DO (that part comes out sounding like she is talking to a child that won't listen) or I won't be able to go on the trip." "Haley, there is no law that says I have to sign papers or allow my children to go on school trips. I don't HAVE TO DO anything". "Whatever." and then it went in to a discussion about the right way to ask for something and about how I'd be much more willing to help her if she would lose the attitude, show some respect, and ask for what she needs.
I've realized that there is no fix for the demands and at times, I create more friction by turning them into an argument, but I don't want my kids to think it's okay to talk to me that way.
It's driving me insane ... my kids seem to have forgotten who is boss around here.
Brenna is the worst ... she's three and she's going to test the boss theory ... She'll walk right up and tell me "Get me a drink". I usually just have to look at her and say "excuse me?" for her to rephrase her request but once in a while she gets stubburn and it turns into a fit.
Zachary is a whiner and while he won't demand something, he will lay on the floor and whine that he is hungry without ever asking for anything to eat or after being asked to wait a minute so I can finish what I'm doing. If he walks up to me and says "I'm hungry", I usually reply back "Yea, me too" or "I'm sorry" and go back to what I was doing. Sometimes he gets the hint that he needs to ask politely and sometimes it sets him into whine mode.
Haley doesn't demand as much as she tries to tell me how it is. This is an actual conversation we had a few days ago. "Mom, you need to sign the paper I left on the desk". "No, I don't have to sign anything". "YES, YOU DO (that part comes out sounding like she is talking to a child that won't listen) or I won't be able to go on the trip." "Haley, there is no law that says I have to sign papers or allow my children to go on school trips. I don't HAVE TO DO anything". "Whatever." and then it went in to a discussion about the right way to ask for something and about how I'd be much more willing to help her if she would lose the attitude, show some respect, and ask for what she needs.
I've realized that there is no fix for the demands and at times, I create more friction by turning them into an argument, but I don't want my kids to think it's okay to talk to me that way.
I have the same problem here. I make them say please, too. I don't feel like becoming the mother doormat either.
