Guilt

J has been testing authority and responding with attitude a lot more lately. Especially after spending two whole weeks together on vacation – which included tiring days and sleep needed. (He seems to be doing okay at school, but home is a different story) We have had to scold him a lot lately. Last night was no exception.

The boys wanted to sleep together in J's bed. I told J that he has to stay still and not roll around if he wanted Austin to sleep next to him. After probably 20 minutes, Austin came out to tell me Jackson kept rolling around and he couldn't sleep. So, off to his own bed he went and fell asleep quickly. I kept hearing J playing with the door in his room and by the time it was 10:00pm, I had had enough. I opened his door and he was sitting there on the floor (he had been making “boing, boing” noises with the door stopper). I told him he is supposed to be in bed and asleep. He told me he couldn’t find his cloth. I told him it’s too bad if he lost it (he had it when he got in bed). He jumped into bed, sad and crying, “You’re making me sad.” He, in his sweet, innocent way, reminded me that I need to be more patient with him. So, I gave him hugs (his favorite thing to ask for when he is being scolded) and we tried looking on the floor for his cloth. We couldn’t find it so I went to get him a new cloth. I asked him what I was doing that was making him sad. I expected him to say it was that I was yelling at him. He said it was my flashlight. I turned off the flashlight and asked him if that was better. He said yes, laid down and went right to sleep.