My youngest daughter, N, is now in the Pre-K program at her daycare. During the summer, she was very excited to be starting “big girl” school. Well unfortunately, she hasn’t been acting like a big girl lately. Last week, she got in trouble for biting another kid. Yes, she is 4 and bit another kid. Not once, but twice in the same day. Nothing burns my ass more then to be notified that my child is the new school vampire. N’s teacher, Ms. B, also told me that they keep a list of who has not been good listeners and N has been put on it a few times that week. Great.
When N saw me that day, she knew she was in trouble. Down went her head. After signing two incident reports and talking with Ms. B, I looked at N and pointed to her teacher. She knew what that meant. N slowly walked over to Ms. B, gave her a hug and apologized. During the drive home, I didn’t say a word to N. I glanced in the rear view mirror and I could see her sad little face watching me. She knew I was upset with her. Silence is golden.
When we got home we had a quiet dinner and N was told to remain in her room until she was given the OK to come out. She sat quietly in her room. I think the silent treatment was doing the trick.
After about an hour, N was allowed out of her room. We talked about her behavior at school. She knew what she had done was wrong. We talked about “the list” and she promised to always be a good listener and student. She also promised to put away her fangs until Halloween. This week has been a good week so far. Every day N has greeted me with “Daddy, I didn’t make the list!” Awesome.
