Getting back on track

We’ve been going through a rough spot with Natalie lately, but I’m praying things are turning around. A few months ago, she began acting out a lot – not listening to us and her teachers, saying “bathroom” words, running away from teachers, not responding to timeouts and being rude to her friends. We tried cracking down with discipline, worked closely with her teachers, tried motivating her to act better and nothing seemed to be working.

Besides making me immensely frustrated, it also broke my heart. Our typically sweet (yet still rambunctious) girl was turning into a bit of a bully.

With more hugs, stricter discipline, an earlier bedtime and a great new reward system with Nana (involving sleepovers and tea parties for good behavior), she snapped out of the funk almost overnight. Hooray! We enjoyed three weeks of amazing behavior, to the point of even helping Gavin with tasks, setting the table and using her manners.

Then we leveled out to more typical behavior for a 3-year-old. She’s now having good days and bad days, but working hard to be a better listener and reaping the awards for her effort. Halloween, candy, a fall break from school and colder days (less playtime outside) aren’t helping things, but we’ll get there.

We’ll keep working on it. It’s parenting. Ongoing. Exhausting. Trying. Good thing it’s worth it.