Neighbor Lady and I usually have coffee and say things like “They’ll work it out” when our children are tugging on the same toy however, sometimes Ella and Neighbor Girl play this terrible game in which they smack each other in the head until we're so horrified that they both end up in time out. (Which is normally something I use sparingly, Ella has a time out perhaps once a month.)
More recently this game has escalated to shoving each other onto the floor until I am screeching “Ella, we don’t push in this house!” Neighbor Lady says it’s a phase, I don’t have the heart to tell her its not. I know it’s not because this Ella only plays these games with Neighbor Girl, with other kids she plays nice, shares, hugs, and invents games and laughs. How can you tell someone “I don’t think your kid and my kid play well”? Let me tell you I’ve been friends with Neighbor Lady since the 9th grade and she was in my wedding.
Well last week I was sick of the punishing and decided to change the pattern. We painted instead of letting them beat each other and it went great. This is a big relief for me as the Neighbors are taking a trip with us in September and I didn’t want to spend the whole trip yelling “Ella we don’t eye gouge on this plane!”
3 comments:
It's funny how sometimes kids that are good individually (and usually together) get in these patterns of "bad" play. We have this problem with a neighbor kid and my oldest daughter -- they seem set on absolutely destoying the house when they get together. It is frustrating, to say the least -- maybe I'll try your strategy of changing the pattern. Thanks for the idea!
I hope it works for you too.
I am irrationally jealous that you have a neighbor with whom you not only have coffee and playdates but also like enough to take vacation with. I live in a neighborhood that is 90% retirees. Although my next-door neighbor is available to babysit and makes us cake.
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