Nick and I were faced with the unhappy task, this evening, of taking away a promised treat from our daughter. We had told her that she could have desert after dinner, but due to an extreme behavior melt down on her part, we had to take the privilege away.
As meltdowns often do, this one started slowly, over nothing in particular. She was throwing mini-fits in between bouts of good behavior, and it was becoming unbearable. We kept pulling her back from the dark side with threats of loosing her desert, but we finally had had enough. We warned her that we had given her enough chances, and if she crossed the line one more time... That Was It!
Unfortunately, she tested us again, and we had to stick to our threat. Tessie flipped out. We tried, and managed pretty well, to stay calm and explained that she had every chance to correct her behavior, but chose otherwise, and had to face the consequences. We asked her to calm down before she lost another privilege, and were a little surprised when it worked. And worked well. Not only did Tes calm down, she turned back into the sweet and thoughtful girl a know she really is. We put her to bed without another fuss, and instead she showered us with sweet sentiments and hugs. As crappy as it feels to be the bad guy, it's beautiful when it pays off in the end.
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