“Stop that.” “Don’t go in there.” “Is that your toy? Give it back.” “Share with your sister.” “Stop teasing.” “Stop yelling.” “Play nice.”
AHHHHHHHH! Just be normal. But then again, what really is normal? No child, even those “normal” children are good all the time. Their mom might think that, might even say that, but the reality is no child is perfect, no mother is perfect. However, we are the perfect mother for this perfect child! (God says so)
As a mom of a Special Kid, I’ve realized that what works today, might not work tomorrow. That’s true in all area’s of my son’s life: Schooling, Discipline…you name it, I’ve got to always be on the lookout for something new to switch up with what I’m doing now (cause all of a sudden, what I’m doing now isn’t working anymore!) So I thought it would be good to share what we do, as far as discipline, with our Special Kids. Maybe we could get some new ideas that we hadn’t thought of before and make our lives just a little bit easier.
The thing that works the most often with Ian is to re-direct him. If he’s throwing a fit about not getting his way (watch TV for example), I try to get him to do something that he does well – that only he does. Something that a “man” needs to do. Remind him of something that I rely on him to do it and continue talking about that for a while, then he calms down and we can talk about the other. Because we live out in the middle of no where and I know next to nothing about cars, I rely on Ian to help me out when Dave is at work. Like this morning, he put air in the tires and then when the car wouldn’t start, he realized the battery was dead and went and got the battery charger and put it on to charge. (ok, so I could have done all those things – but who wants to?? Especially when I see the smile and confidence in my son grow and grow by letting him do the “man” things around the house.)
One thing I’ve learned the hard way is to NEVER get in his face. He is ODD and getting into his face and MAKING him do what I want him to do is like 10 steps back in our relationship. On the flip side, my daughter looses respect for me if I don’t get in her face and make her do it my way!!! It’s just the difference between the physiological make up of the two. It’s taken me SOOOOO long to accept that. And I’m still learning.
So…out with it! What do you do that works the best – and what works the worst?