Jeff and I made the choice to have a spank free house (this is not saying anything at all to those that spank, just our own personal choice). My personal feeling is you spank more out of your anger than anything and I’m glad we both agree with this. We use time out for bad behavior and a sticker chart for good behavior. We have been really blessed with great kids so spanking isn’t really necessary.
Until today (Tuesday July 7th). Shenzie woke up on the WRONG side of the bed and nothing I could do would snap her out of her crazy mode. She was insane and being really mean to Heaten and me. To try to shake the mood I decided to take them to get our car washed and get some breakfast. They love the car wash and breakfast out is a treat so I thought for sure this would be a hit!! Nope, she screamed and cried that she didn’t want to go etc. etc. etc. My plan was to load Heaten in the car and then get the crazed lunatic Shenzie and try to calm her down for a minute before getting into the car. Hahaha. She had other plans.
Heaten and I are in the garage when I hear the garage door lock. Not just the door lock, but the deadbolt as well. Not good, but not a problem since I leave my car keys in my car which have a house key on them. I go to get the keys and realize they are in the house with Shenzie where my Mom left them after driving Miss Daisy yesterday (hahahah MOM!). Once upon a time Heaten locked me out in the backyard (on accident) so I hid a set of keys out back in case it ever happened again. The only problem is I keep a lock on the gate to get in the backyard and the key to the gate is out back with the house key. Recap: Shenzie is in the house alone. Heaten and I are in the 120 degree garage and I have no key and no way of getting in the house. I start pounding on the door like a crazy woman screaming at Shenzie to unlock the door (she totally knows how to do this, just chose not to). I am getting so PISSED and scared. My neighbors probably thought I was possessed with the amount of screaming and banging I did. I go around the house to the side window and see Shenzie in the dining room screaming and crying so I yell to her to go UNLOCK THE DOOR! She looks at me and screams. Guess that isn’t happening. I go to the back gate to see if there is a way I can jump over to get the keys, and realize the gate isn’t locked. The lock broke and I forgot to change it so it was open. Hallelujah!!! I run back there, get the keys, race around front and open the door. I am FURIOUS at this point - partly scared and relieved that nothing happened, but mostly furious that Shenzie locked us out and wouldn’t let us back in. I ran over to her and swatted her butt and yelled at her. If she wasn’t crying before she really was now. After about 10 minutes of me trying to calm her (and myself) down I explained to her that what she did was dangerous and did she understand. I am hopeful that the spank and yelling did the trick and they will never do that again. Just in case I went and got two more house keys made to hide in the garage.
July 16th, 2009 at 8:06 am
That has NEVER happened to me and I would be just as crazy if it had!!! That’s scary stuff.
July 16th, 2009 at 8:24 am
That is so scary!!
We don’t spank either but I came so close out of anger that I put Nate in time out to get him away from me. It was when he bit down on Alex’s leg and would not let go. It is not like he is a little toddler trying to figure stuff out. He is a big kid now and was smiling as Alex screamed.
Oh I yelled and yelled at him and told him to go to time out bc I was so angry I could hurt him as bad as Alex did.
But man, if they did anything like that!
July 16th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Oh that little turkey. That was Chuckie Cheese day right? You seemed so calm and Shenzie was so good. She must have learned her lesson. I am not s spanker either. But sometimes when they are toddlers little that they need a little swat to get the point across. I had to do it a time or 2 when they were little. Don’t worry she won’t be scarred for life.
July 17th, 2009 at 6:10 am
Oh dear….I feel your frustrating all the way to Michigan
Personally, I think you handled the situation fine. This will sound funny but I do think spanking is ok as long as it is done properly and I agree with you totally that most times it is not, thus, the problem. However, I can count on one hand how many times my boys have been spanked. If it was two….maybe. We just didn’t have to. But when children are putting themselves in danger as Shenzie could have…..that is serious. You did good =) Hopefully she is feeling better today.