Everybody loves a defiant child, right?
Riiiiiight….
We love to be verbally abused and ignored. We love to be at our wits end, feeling as though we have to be bigger, stronger, louder to get our point across. We loooooove using intimidation and bribes as we work to coerce a child into cooperation and obedience.
Except that we don’t. Present, loving parents don’t enjoy those tactics. We feel as though we have failed our kids, as though we are fail-ing as parents. We feel as though we have lost the battle.
And to be honest, when we go to those places of threats and bribes, we have lost. We have lost our way and for sure have stepped off the path of present, positive parenting.
But what are we supposed to do with these kids???