The Technique That Works

I've been trying to utilise the good old "naughty room" or quiet room technique which has been going around for a millennium in dealing with children. I guess you could call it the naughty chair, or the quiet step, or the "frick it, I'm going out of my mind, so get out of my face" area. And if you persevere, it does work. I've been trying it on, particularly with Aidan.

Our problem (and it is our problem) with Aidan is that he gets an idea in his head about a certain behaviour and it just sticks. Because we've done a bike ride for two evenings in a row, this evening, he wanted to go out again. As both Ethan and I had Taekwondo, there was no easy way of fitting it into the schedule. Aidan on a bike need constant supervision. So we told him "No." He didn't understand, and went to great lengths to convince us that he indeed was going riding, including attempting to get into the garage to get his bike, and running around with his socks to put on his shoes.

When "No" just wouldn't work anymore, I took him aside, told him sternly that his behaviour wasn't asseptable, and took him to his room. The first few times he screamed, he yelled, he did his Tourette's like tricks. But over 25 minutes he got the idea that he needed to calm down, and that perhaps if when he came out he changed his behaviour, he'd get a better result. It sucks that it takes so much time to get a result, but ultimately that calming down gives you more hours of peace than if you just leave him to annoy you all night.

Ciao for Now, Not Asseptable Angry Dad.