My wonderful daughter has a habit of getting up in the middle of the night, turning on the bathroom light, going #1, turning off the bathroom light and going back to bed to slip off into dreamland once again.
What's the problem, you ask? She misses a couple vital steps - wiping, flushing and washing her hands. Although, if she's not wiping then I guess washing her hands isn't needed...
Over the past year, I have been telling her that it's okay to flush the toilet 'cause it will not wake up mommy and daddy. And I've told her about germs and how nasty ugly they are. And everytime I talk about germs, she has a very disgusted look on her face so I think she's getting it. The wiping part I will deal with a later date when I get another great brain wave.
Well, this morning (7:30am pst), I am lying in bed wrestling with my inner self on whether or not to get up and start my saturday when I hear Raynae pop into the bathroom. She turns on the bathroom light, goes #1, turns off the bathroom light and she proceeds back to her bedroom to start playing. What is she not getting???
That's when it hits me! From now on, when I get up in the middle of the night and see the nice little gift she has left for everyone, I will immediately go to her room, wake her up, advise her to get up at once to flush the toilet and wash her hands and then tell her to go back to bed and sleep. How can that not work?? I will be disturbing her sleep and if I have to do it a couple of times, she will definitely learn! Who likes to be woken up like that??
I am excited about this idea and eagerly anticipate the awakening of my dear husband to tell him about this. I tell him. He immediately tells me that that is so very cruel. I am crushed. I go from being a great problem-solver mom to wondering how God could ever put this idea in my head?? Is He trying to make Raynae hate me?
Thinking I can outsmart my husband, I ask him how he would deal with the problem (other than complaining to me about it) and he quickly says to take something away during the day and tell her why I'm taking it away. Interesting. But where is the direct punishment for not flushing? And not wiping? And not washing her hands??
I will try this method of my husband.
But I reserve the right to try mine out if his does not work out...
4 comments:
I agree with your idea. Not cause Dave's my annoying little brother, but I think that'll teach her to think about it from now on. If you wait to take something away during the day, it's not still fresh in her mind, so I don't think it'll have the same impact.
What do I know - I don't have kids, but you're definitely smarter!
So how is it going? I honestly think that both ways would work but I must admit that your way involves you having to get up in the night too. So I would just deal with it first thing in the morning and start yanking the toys out of her room! Score 1 for Dave but maybe because I'm lazy.
I must say, I would go with Dave's but only becuase yours involves waking her up and there is a chance that if you woke her up she wouldn't go back to bed so then you would be stuck awake with her.
Dave, Dave, Dave...women...I don't know. I want to side with you, but...uh man. Maybe you should just lock the door one night and she can't get in to use the washroom. She then will come and wake you up. If your going to get up to check if she washed, flushed, cleaned, or whatever any way, join her in her nightly journey to the vast land of relief. I don't know. Either that or she will go back to bed because the door is locked and then you have to deal with a water bed in the morning.
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