Well, Anna Laura is slipping out of the easily obedient stage and into a more frustrating stage where she mixes defiance with adorable. Although her sister is reflecting a few of her bad habits, Anna Laura regularly pushes back against what either Kyndall or I say.
She’s 2 and a half; I suppose we had our warning that it was coming.
Her intrepidity in the face of a spanking is impressive. She’ll put up a formidable protest to the very end, but might makes right – at least around here, today. She’s not into psycho-manipulation, even though it occasionally is the victor. God knew what he was doing when he made parents faster, smarter and stronger.
It’s all in waves, too. We can feel like weeks pass where she is a doll; then it’s a week of solid discipline. It’s not so much that she is evil about things. Sometimes she wants to exercise her own ability to do things – even the things she should not. Sometimes she is testing how serious we are when we tell her no. And sometimes she is pure evil.
The attitude that Kyndall and I have to keep is a hard one. We are not the mean guys here. By raising her with good standards and courtesies she’s becoming a better girl. We would be doing her a disservice if we did not give her boundaries. But after you get on to her for the 5th time in one hour – you start to sound like a Nazi camp sergeant, not a loving parent.
Where’s the manual?
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