Thursday, April 17, 2008

Go Get 'Em!

D: Recently there have been more and more tantrums regarding stolen goods between the Deuce. It usually goes something like this:

O finds a certain toy/ball fascinating enough to “ooh” and “ahh” over while often holding it up high in the air with great satisfaction. F wonders what all the excitement is about and firmly snatches it out of O’s hands. O screams bloody murder.

In this interaction there is no fighting. There is no retaliation. Just one child wanting what the other child has, and leaving the other feeling very defeated.

Obviously they are too young to be taught how to share and respect each other’s belongings. So, in order to avoid the shrill of the helpless screams we have devised a way to turn the toy-snatching into a game.

If we see a theft in progress and the ‘victim’ is about to break down, we say to this child “Go get ‘em!” and point to the assailant. The child with the stolen object will then turn in laughter and take off running, with his brother close behind. Once they catch up with each other and the object is then stolen back, we again say “Go get ‘em!” to the other child, which sends them both running after each other, giggling with glee.

This can go back and forth until their short little attention spans allow boredom to take hold and redirect them in different directions.

I’m not sure how long this will last, but for now we are left with amiable results and zero tantrums. For some reason I have a sneaking suspicion this tactic might not work so well, once they learn to tackle the other with force.

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Posted by Walker Lockhart @ 6:09 PM

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ha ha, we do the same thing. It's normally F who wants what M has, she pouts, cries and throws an all-time wobbly until we tell her to go get him and then the hunt/chase is on LOL

Posted by Blogger Tonya Staab @ Monday, April 21, 2008 8:32:00 AM #
 

I love that picture-and the one in your header. You've got such a cute family!

Posted by Blogger Delightfully Mom @ Monday, April 28, 2008 8:58:00 AM #
 
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