Tobey: Five in a row

Must have been a record. Tobey earned himself 5 naughty corners in a row yesterday.

He ripped out almost every page of his Color Wonders paper pad, which I tolerated since we can still use the paper. But he threw them all on the ground. So I asked him to pick them all up of which he picked up almost everything except the ones under his picnic table. I asked him to pick them up too when he ignored me.

Under the "violation" of not listening to Mommy, he earned a naughty corner. After reconciliation, I still required him to pick the paper up. Still no. So Tom relieved me and it took 4 more naughty corners (including moving naughty corner to a corner in our room where it's more boring) until he did it.

Looking back, I feel a little bad. I was frustrated because I was in physical pain and here I was having to stand there waiting for him to pick up the last of the paper. Was I being too harsh? After I started down the path of naughty corner, both Tom and I felt the need to follow through -- were we being unreasonable? Am I just being self-conscious because this all took place in front of Tom's dad? I've apologized to Tobey before but I guess we're unclear whether we were in the wrong at all this time. Tom was also wondering if Tobey was resistant because the remaining papers were under the table, a little harder for him to get to.

Thankfully Tobey like most kids are resilient and forgiving. I just hope not to have to bank on his goodwill too much.