(no subject)

[clumzcauri]

Yesterday i brought jayden to the turtleback zoo. They've done a LOT of work on it over the past year. It looks great. Anyway, so we had a great day at the zoo. He listened to me, and we had a lot of fun together..until it came time to wait on line for the train. He kept taking off & running away from me, so when i brought him back for the 50th time and forced him to stand there holding my hand, he hit me. Everyone around us was already watching us, since the kid kept barreling through the crowd to get to the front of the line. So when he hit me, I was so embarassed. I asked him why he hit me, and he said he couldn't hold my hand. So I told him I'd let go of his hand if he could stand next to me and wait patiently for his turn to ride the train. I said if he couldn't stand next to me and wait patiently, and if he ran away from me one more time, we would have to go home. I asked him if he understood, and he said, "yes." So I let go of his hand. And he took off full-speed toward the train again. I ran after him, grabbed his hand, and told him we had to go home now. Of course he was screaming and crying and trying desperately to get out of my hand again, but I just ignored him and walked back through the crowd and out of the zoo. In the car he was kicking the back of my seat and screaming at me, and when we got home, I told his mom the whole story of what happened. I think she was upset that I didn't bring him on the train. When she explained the story to her husband, he said, "I'm glad Courtney's so strict with him." And I really don't consider that being strict. I never thought of myself as being really strict & a stern discipliner...I mean, everyone else i babysit for calls me the "fun babysitter". But I think that children need boundaries. If I'd let him go on that train, what would he have learned? That he can kick & scream & hit me and get what he wants? The mom said it's just so hard for her to listen to him cry like that. And I just blocked him out and told him to calm down, because he was the one who hurt my feelings by not listening to me. Was that really that harsh of me? Maybe when it's my own children, it will be a lot harder for me to stay stern & follow through with everything that I say, but when it's somebody else's children, it just seems obvious that I'm doing the right thing. I don't question myself. Was that really "strict" of me?

(x-posted in 4nannys)