SurlyOldManMN

Beat me to it. Try to remember that their whole purpose in life at 2-3 is to start pushing for and locating boundaries. Your job is to give them clear indications of where said boundaries are. It gets easier to communicate boundaries as they get older (provided you've been consistent with setting and sticking to them). For now they're just going to flat out test you.. Throwing a flaming hissy fit over trivial things like this is a boundary for me. It's not easy seeing your little one scream over something you have direct influence over, but it's not nearly as difficult as dealing with the fallout should they learn tantrums are the proven way to go in order to get what they want, RIGHT MEOW. Hang in there. Expect and prepare yourself for some drama while they start making the "this 'ish doesn't fly" connection. It gets better. Promise.

Well you know, they are made out of Cheetos afterall...

It looked exactly how I remember it feeling when my mom would make me hold a pillow or even just a pen straight in front of me until muscle failure. I wasn't prepared for how it looks from the other side. I had to stop it "early", well before he started shaking or any of that. He lost his 'ish pretty damn quick. It was absolutely horrible to watch. I don't know how my mom sat through it. Definitely made me second guess myself. Nobody assaults my wife though. Nobody. Even and especially my own son.

The vacuum is just too burly for him. He LOVED dusting, which I wasn't quite sure how to deal with given the context. Last night he decided to throw stuff at his mom in anger. "It wasn't even big stuff". He changed his mind about how heavy/big it was when directed to stand straight up and hold it in front of him with arms extended and locked at a 90* angle to his body until I said otherwise. Pushing my buttons, he is. This is a new pattern of crappy behavior on his part. Not quite sure wtf I'm doing.

Vacuuming: Apparently the seventh circle of hell for six year olds. Figured some of you may find this information useful in the future.

Sooo... got pulled aside by one of his teachers today. Seems my 6-year-old minion has been saying incredibly disrespectful things to teachers and bullying kids, especially when they're in the bathroom. Doing things like holding the door shut or trying to scare them when they're dropping a deuce. Teacher asked him how he was doing. His response, "why are you even talking to me, woman." A "conversation" was had and then he was put to work for the rest of the night. Expectations were set that he will treat teachers with the same respect as he does me and I will not make a distinction between disrespect or rude behavior towards them vs rude or disrespectful behavior towards me... and I'm going to check in with them every day. Tomorrow he will be introduced to the joys of manual labor to the point of physical exhaustion. Then we'll head to grandma's, because she'd like to have a word with him about her opinion on blatantly disrespecting women. If he thinks I'm a hardass, wait until he finds out where I get it from... He has no #$(!ing idea what sort of special fresh personal hell he is in for tomorrow. He seems to think he's almost in the clear because I built him back up a little bit before bed. Not even close... On the plus side, it will be handy having a 6 year old who knows how to scrub the hell out of toilets and floors or clean litter boxes. Minus side, I pretty much have to do it right along side of him if I want to send the correct message with the appropriate tone. Bah. Something tells me there will be zero behavior problems on Friday.

We had terrific twos. It was terrible threes for us...

Still works with the wife...

My kid learned the waterworks get him nowhere with me pretty quick. He can turn it off and on at will. I think it's a skill most 5 year old's possess...

Just one minor battle eh?

http://i48.tinypic.com/2ur9r9c.jpg

You should send her a text so she knows how strongly you feel.

She got it back with a TEXT? You are a sucker...

I'm not even shooting that high. I intend to measure my success as a parent by how well I manage to preserve my kid's basic curiosity. Introducing him to as much mind-blowing, wonder-inducing stuff as I can is pretty much the game plan. Science provides a convenient repository of both mind-blowing ideas and an endless treasure trove of possibilities to pursue curiosity. win/win. Plus I just like screwing with him and watching him get knocked on his ass by massive perspective shifts in real time.

I swatted mine once when he was still in diapers. Indescribably acute feelings of horror, shame and failure immediately followed. That said, I have no reservations about it if it really comes down to it. I somehow doubt it ever will. Thankfully he has a well enough developed sense of empathy and morality that it's usually not difficult to get the point across with blunt, brutally honest words and reasonable consequences.

Sounds like previous conversations between my wife and I.

I tried to teach my kid that the sun is a star last night after he brought home a paper plate craft project. Got some feedback such as: "the sun isn't a star, it's too big" and "how many suns are in the earth?". That was before I told him all the stuff we're made of came out of stars. Me thinks there is a young mind about to be blown...

I hear you have a MacBook for sale?

http://cdn.rsvlts.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/internet-high-five.jpeg I get that a lot too. I've been that way for years and didn't recognize it until my wife (then girlfriend) pointed out she was scared of me when we first met. I leverage it to my full advantage now.

... and so it begins.

Yes, yes he is. That would be the "F" of NF performance. There is a reason they are one of two shops I'm willing to trust with "the other woman".

Plus it's just good responsible gun ownership to ensure everything is clean and in fantastic working order. ... or something

I believe 05GT already beat you to it.

Not exactly. I'm making fun of you for acting like you have aspergers (specifically, the inability to speak or comprehend anything other than exact literal translations) and/or applying double standards.

I loosed in an arm wrestling match once. That was embarrassing.