No Charlotte!
Friday, September 16th, 2016From Friday Mom – Erin:
Rory is, on the whole, extremely helpful with his little sister. He understands what she is asking and often translates for her. He helps out during meal time. He chats with her in the backseat. And he tries to console her when She is sad.
Unfortunately, sometimes his “helpful” is more bossy than constructive. Sometimes his stern tone can be helpful– like when he is convincing her to endure a diaper change or getting her to sit still to put her shoes on. But other times his approach is outright loud and brings Charlotte to tears, like when he yells at her for chewing on toys or stealing his toys, or ignoring our requests. In reality, she is awfully young for us to expect her to listen well all the time. But Rory– ever the obedient one– takes great umbrage at Charlotte’s failure to listen.
I have tried to explain this to him in terms that he can understand, such as explaining that Charlotte is still working how to use her listening ears and doesn’t like it when we yell at her. We have tried to demonstrate redirection for him so that he can do the same. For example, he has learned to provide her with substitute toys rather than simply steal his toys away. He doesn’t always remember the techniques (he is only a kid himself, after all), but if we can keep the yelling and tears at a minimum, I am happy to call that a success.