MEH moment with Kate

I was blow-drying my hair yesterday when Kate pulled a naughty trick of rummaging through the bin. I shouted at her (over the loud buzz of the hairdryer) “Stop that, Kate!” which she conveniently disregarded. I had to stop what I was doing and stomped towards her. I took her hand and smacked it. She looked at me forlornly and pulled at my hair. SMACK.

[Note: the husband has reminded me that I have to give Kate warning before I smacked her. Which I agree with. So now, I make an effort to give her a chance before I smack her. In these cases, these are repeat offences as she has been told before that the bin cannot be rummaged through nor is she allowed to pull at hair.]

“No pulling my hair!”

We eyed each other steadily. Her lips quivered slightly; I saw her eyes shifting and I knew she was thinking.

She reached her hand out and touched my hair again – without pulling this time, merely holding it.

And she said “tham tham” (translation from Hokkien: wet wet)

It took me every ounce of sanity to keep my face still, not crack up and responded evenly “yes, Mommy’s hair is wet. Can you please not touch the bin and wait for Mommy to finish drying my hair? Go read a book and I’ll read with you when I’m done ok?”

“Oday (ok)”

Gosh – that’s one classic example of moments with the little one. She never fails to surprise me and it amazes me how she is aware of how to avert attention. In this scenario, she was the one who created the aversion. There are also times where either the husband or I are the ones to create an outlet that will allow her to maneuver out of the situation. One time, she was throwing a tantrum and refused to pick up a toy and after serious moments of unhappiness, I backed down and said that she can have a treat (eat a biscuit, play a toy, etc – any form of distraction, basically) if she did what she was told to – and she’ll usually do that.

Of course, there are also occasions where no party will budge – we are angry parents and she is the stubborn child. No one gets out of that in a pretty state as there will be loud voices, louder cries and plenty of stress involved, but I think what is important is that we, as parents, try our best to do what is right and being firm - which is important in disciplining a child, especially at this vulnerably important age of Kate’s.