A Mind of His Own

My son has an adolescent baby sitter who spends several hours with him, two days a week.  Mostly, she’s his favorite playmate.

——————–

Mom, we’re going to the office today, okay?

No, Sweetie.  You’re staying here. [The babysitter] is coming over to play with you.

No mom.  I want to go with you to the office.  Please?

[crying. tears. hugs]

When I get home, we’ll spend time together reading books, and we’ll go to the pool.  But for now, you’re going to have so much fun with {Babysitter}.

[Enter babysitter]

Bye, Mom! Go to the office now.  Bye bye!

{Well, I’ve been trumped on the fun scale.  But hey, I’m glad he’s happy for the hours he’s not with me.}

———————-

It’s important for a babysitter or any authority figure to have some way to enforce boundaries with children of any age.  We’ve given our son’s babysitter the authority to put him in time out or to take away a favorite toy if he’s being disobedient.

I followed up with her to ask if she’s needed to use any discipline, and how well that’s proceeding.

Well, I put him in time out . . . kind of.

What do you mean?  What happened?

I told him he was going to spend five minutes in time out in his room . . . as he climbed on the toilet to do his thing, he said “I’ll just do my time out right here, okay?”

Seriously, what is a teenager supposed to do with a potty training child who’s initiating potty training in conjunction with his discipline?

He’s going to find every little loophole to keep his parents and any authority figures on their toes.

Praying right now for parenting wisdom and grace . . . because the fun is already covered.