Quiet as a Church Mouse

…children are to be seen and not heard. Can I get a virtual show of hands from those who were raised with that mantra. Let me do one better, remember going to visit the nice lady’s house and before you got there your mother told you not to accept anything and the lady insists on cutting you a piece of pie, you get the *side eye* from your mom but head to the kitchen hand in hand with the nice lady anyway. Yeah, those were the days.

So my son, has started talking back…at five. Must.get.the.last.word. So much to the point that we are having to devise a strategy. I do believe in discipline but not for everything #newagemama.  When I was a child, I was very opinionated and outspoken but my mother shut that spirit in me down every chance she got. She was old school, she laid down the law and it was so. As a teenager, screaming back and forth was the name of the game. I was disobedient, and retaliated to her not listening by doing exactly what she told me not to do.  There was never a discussion only screaming matches that fell on deaf ears for both her and I. As far back as I can remember I always felt like she never listened to me, until I became an adult and then still not so much.

Some believe children should only do as they are told, and truly don’t have a voice. Well maybe its the rebel in me rearing its ugly head again, but whenever I raise my voice at him, its almost like I hear my mother yelling at me, and I don’t like it. I have been thinking, and will discuss it with the Mr. maybe instead of silencing his need to be heard, we will create an enviroment conducive to him getting his point across and then as civilized parents and not screaming people we will attempt to explain the logic in what we are telling him to do. Maybe if he understood why he needs to go to bed early, or why its not cool to push the baby’s swing as high as it can go with her in it (true story) he will refrain from naughty activities and think before he acts.

Yes, he has quite the personality and the mouth to back it up

No, I’m not joking, I’m for real. Are you implementing a “new fangled” approach to discipline or are you keeping it “old school”. Have you dealt with this? I’m interested in hearing your method. We don’t judge around these parts..the mic is open!