Parenting Fail

Asher has a habit that if he is in bed, if he thinks we might have some visitors, he always has to get up & see who it is.  He knows he’s not allowed to get out of bed for any reason other than going to the washroom, so of course as soon as he hears the creak of the front door, he’s out of his room announcing, “I have to wee!”

 

The other night, PChad was gone & I wanted to make some cookies, but I DESPISE scooping the dough over & over in the cookie making process, so I invited a friend over to help me.  I thought I’d try telling Asher beforehand that Miss Natasha was going to come & help me make some cookies, figuring that if he knew who was coming & for what purpose, he might stay in bed.

 

I put him to bed, & made sure he’d gone to the washroom, but of course as soon as the front door creaked, he was out of bed proclaiming, “I just have to wee!”

 

I went upstairs & told him, “I know you don’t really need to wee, since you just did less than 10 minutes ago.  You need to get back in bed, & if you get out of bed again, you won’t get any cookies.”

 

Half an hour later, I heard him yelling from his bed, “I need to poo!”  So, I went up to talk to him again.  As soon as I opened his bedroom door, he said, “I really need to wee.”  (See how the story changed right there?)

 

So, I set out the rule, “You can get out of bed to go to the washroom, but then you don’t get a cookie, so you have to decide if you really do have to go or not.”

 

Of course, about an hour later there was more yelling from his room.  I went up to investigate.  “I have wee in my bed, Mummy, but I didn’t get out of bed, so can I still have a cookie tomorrow?”