The Idea of Parenting vs the Reality

Parenting never goes as planned.  Before you have children, you see other people with children and think, My child will never act like THAT.  Then you have children and think back and laugh....and then cry a little. As a parent I have also learned things go better in your head then in reality. 

 

When  my five-year-old daughter Shylee makes bad choices, she goes to time-out. 

 

In our minds we thought we would send Shylee to time-out to give her a chance to reflect and make better choices.  In reality her little sister Kaydance sees her in time-out and tries to steal it from her. 

 

 

 

Then they fight, because they are both trying to be in time out.  Even after we tell Shylee she can get out, she refuses to leave time-out first.  I usually just leave them to work it out like wild animals.  Eventually the weak one will walk away from time-out first. 

 

 

I was an only child, and I'm not insane, so I don't understand their thinking on this one.

 

With Kaydance we thought we would play games with her like holding her upside down.  In our minds it went better than in reality. 

 

I think in our minds we thought it would be fun to hang her upside down and she would laugh. 

 

In reality, Brian picked her up and she fell right out of her pants and boots.  For the record, she did not laugh. 

 

 

 

In fact she thought we were assholes and was mad at us for the next ten minutes until she saw Shylee in time-out.