How do I curb a sort of good behavior?

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MomofThree1975
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06 Jul 2012, 9:34 pm

My 3.5 yo is finding news ways to keep me on my toes. Is communication skills are improving (he's about a year or so behind now) which is great, but that means it's hard to reason with him sometimes.

In the last couple months he has been potty trained and in the last few weeks he has initiated a verbal request to go to the potty. All of that is great, except now he asks to go to the potty to avoid doing things he doesn't want to do. For example. if I put him down to nap and he doesn't want to, he will come downstairs and ask to use the potty. Since we have been working on connecting words to actions, we take him to the potty. He will then squeeze out a few drops (because he really didn't need to use the potty) and then try and find something else to do to avoid going back to bed. He does this also if he is in timeout or trying to get up from the table. He does it with this grin on his face because he thinks he got away with it. My baby doesn't have a poker face so all his emotions show on his face.

He also finds it funny to pull out is little wee wee when he is in bed, as soon as he see's me poke my head in the room to check on him and his brother. A few months ago when he did it out of habbit, I told him to put his wee wee back in. Now, he doesn't do it out of habit, instead it's a big joke. He does it, laughing, looking at me for a reaction. I ignored him and instead of him stopping, he exaggerates the process of pulling out his wee wee and laughs even harder. He has even pulled out his wee wee a few times in the living room, while cracking up and looking at me for a reaction.

Has anyone dealt with this before? Should I keep ignoring him? What do I do with his bathroom requests, when I know he doesn't need to use the bathroom?



InThisTogether
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06 Jul 2012, 9:42 pm

I would take him to the toilet before putting him in bed. Then you know he really doesn't have to go. Then if he tells you he needs to go, simply direct him back to bed. And, mama, he is definitely showing you that he is making connections! LOL!

With my son, we used "privates in private." He can do whatever he wants with it, as long as he is in his room or the bathroom by himself! LOL! He used to play with that thing All The Time! LOL! If he pulls it out when you peak your head in, close the door without responding. If he pulls it out in the livingroom, simply say "privates in private" and if he doesn't put it back, pick him up and put him in his room or the bathroom (wherever you want), say "privates in private" and then without any fuss whatsoever, close the door and walk away. I find the trick with these things is always to not respond in any way with your tone of voice or face. That means no laughing, no annoyance, no frustration. At times like that, I became Matter-Of-Fact-Robot-Mom. Took all the fun out of it! LOL!



momsparky
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07 Jul 2012, 8:49 am

InThisTogether wrote:
I would take him to the toilet before putting him in bed. Then you know he really doesn't have to go. Then if he tells you he needs to go, simply direct him back to bed. And, mama, he is definitely showing you that he is making connections! LOL!

With my son, we used "privates in private." He can do whatever he wants with it, as long as he is in his room or the bathroom by himself! LOL! He used to play with that thing All The Time! LOL! If he pulls it out when you peak your head in, close the door without responding. If he pulls it out in the livingroom, simply say "privates in private" and if he doesn't put it back, pick him up and put him in his room or the bathroom (wherever you want), say "privates in private" and then without any fuss whatsoever, close the door and walk away. I find the trick with these things is always to not respond in any way with your tone of voice or face. That means no laughing, no annoyance, no frustration. At times like that, I became Matter-Of-Fact-Robot-Mom. Took all the fun out of it! LOL!


I agree with this - except I would say explicitly "we are going to the bathroom now so you don't have to do it during _______________" (I would tell my son to make sure he was "completely empty" during the times when I needed him to be proactive about the bathroom and he'd complain he didn't "need" to go.) When he asks to get out of something, I would be sure to say "you will have to wait, because we went before you ____________ especially so you don't need to go until the _____________________ is over." Spelling things out.



MomofThree1975
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08 Jul 2012, 10:12 am

Thanks for the advice! I am going to try "all of the above" and hope something clicks.

He also has a habit of wanting to kiss babies. His sister gets tons of kisses and hugs all day long. I have no issues with that. However, if we sees ANY babies, I have to retrain him from kissing them. He knows I don't want him to do it so sometimes he tries to sneak and do it. I am a little concerned that when he goes to school in September, he will want to hug and kiss anyone smaller than him. I have told him that he should only kiss his family but I think he likes to kiss. Any advice?



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08 Jul 2012, 2:34 pm

Does he follow rules well? If so, I think I'd simply state "The rule at school is no kissing. That is the rule. We do not break it."

Both of my kids did fairly well with concrete rules like that when they were younger. The problem is, when they get a little older, I notice it most in 1st and 2nd grade, they get very vocal about your "rules" and sometimes it comes out in funny, albeit embarrassing, ways. For example, I had to make a rule for my son that "The rule is that kids do not tell grown ups that their butts are big. That is the rule. We do not break it." Then one day at school one of the other kids commented on the size of some grown-up's rear end and my son promptly reported to the teacher that so-and-so broke the rule of not saying a grown-up has a big butt. LOL! I can only imagine what the teacher thought about the "rules" I have in my house! LOL!