Guilty!

About a year ago, Mike and I signed up for a trial of James Lehman's Total Transformation program to help us deal with Maya's behavior. While we got some ideas from it, we felt that the techniques were more suited for teenagers than a 5-6 year old. So, we returned it after the 30-day trial period, but continue to get the free emails with advice articles. Click here to read the one I read today. It pretty much describes one of the ways I dealt with Maya's disrespectful nature yesterday. And I knew when I was doing it that it probably wouldn't help, but I literally was at the end of my rope and couldn't think any clearer in the moment.

Well, contrary to what the article says, Maya did feel badly about how she behaved towards me yesterday. She woke up this morning and did everything I expect of her without being told--including her 30 minutes of reading and Summer Bridges activities. She was clearly contrite.

Of course, this doesn't mean I will use this technique again. In writing this I am vowing that, even in my weakest moment, I will do my best not to personalize my child's behavior. But, apparently, I got lucky this time--the "Parenting Police" let me go with a warning instead of a ticket.