The Bad Cop
Photo by Osarugue Igbinoba on Unsplash
When the wee one starts wailing and screaming when she doesn’t get what she wants, I do the thing you’re not supposed to do: cave and give it to her any way. Because: Daddy’s Girl.
Tonight, I can proudly state that I did not cave. I stood my ground and eventually I won. Not the war, but the day’s battle at least.
The meltdown started as it always does: at bedtime. And boy did it start. She was happily playing and I geve her all the ususal warning signs that things were winding down but that wasn’t enough apparantly andhe screaming began and she wouldn’t stop. I managed after a relatively short period of tinme to get her to snuggle with me as I find that that’s about the only thing that works for us to get her to cool her jets.
Once she settled down we thought we had it sorted, and I went downstairs to write a completely differen pos than what But then against my advice, she got out of bed and found me, becuase usally I am a sucker for a pretty face.
This time she wanted to be read a story. I told her that ship had sailed and no bedtime story for girls that misbehave. She lost it it. It was a good half hour of pure tantrum. Eventually she realized that after I put her back in the bed for the 100th time that tonight I meant business and there is no effing story. It’s a simple rule: no rewards for bad behaviour.
She begged and pleaded but I held my ground and there was no bedtime story tonight for little girls that have tantrums.
She just needs to go the fuck to bed. It’s all better with a good night’s sleep. For all of us.