Monday, January 04, 2010

Breaking the Cycle

One of my girls tried to play a tickling game with a younger sister. The younger one had another step in to stop the game because it is a huge NO-NO here. The child refused to stop "playing" and got rougher. The child that stepped in came running to get me. She just didn't think it was right.

I yelled up the stairs for the older child to help me in the kitchen. She refused. I knew immediately it hadn't been innocent. I skipped stairs to get to her. She was curled up under the desk in her room, crying. I spoke softly and assured her I wasn't mad. She wouldn't speak and I told her what I thought happened. I was sure she had started playing and began to have tingling feelings that got out of control. I explained I wasn't mad or disappointed with her. I was mad at someone else and we could talk about it later.

About 30 minutes later she joined me int he kitchen. She asked who I was mad at. I told her it was her parents. Without them, she could play and not worry about being aroused. It's not her fault. I also told her how great she handled it because other children, including her, have continued that behavior and touched another child inappropriately. I am proud that she thought twice. She should be, too. She will not be like her parents. She has already broken the cycle.

3 comments:

Sheri said...

You rock!

Natalie said...

That's great that your kids now recognize when things are getting out of hand and can stop each other from continuing a potentially bad behavior. Says huge things about their security with you and your parenting style. My hat is off to you!

Natalie
adoptyaroslav.blogspot.com

stellarparenting.com said...

breaking cycles is so hard - yipee for moving on.