Sticky Lessons Learned (We Hope)

We had a shocking first with Collins recently. She deliberately disobeyed us...twice. Is it really possible that our sweet rule-following perfect first child is perhaps not perfect?

The first instance happened the day after her fifth birthday. That gave me some pause...is this what we have to look forward to with five? She was playing alone in her room (asks to do this on a regular basis because she loves to imagine with her doll house or do art projects at her desk) when I walked in to check on her and saw a bunch of opened candy wrappers on her night stand. Keep in mind, she had just asked for something sweet and I had told her no (sweet overload from her birthday the day before).

So imagine my shock to walk in and see her downing some chocolate candy while playing with her doll house. I had just told her she couldn't have it, and she decided to go upstairs, shut her door, and eat it anyway. Talk about mad...

So we talked through why this was bad, and how trust was an important thing. We thought she understood, and then scenario #2 happened a few days later...

Again, she was "playing by herself", and I walked into her room to check on her. As we were talking, I thought she was acting a bit odd and even asked her, "You aren't eating candy are you?" and she said she was not. So I let her continue playing.

Later that night as I was putting her to bed, I noticed all these sticky spots on her nightstand. I was momentarily confused until I realized that the splotches were actually honey and that my child had been guzzling from the honey bear behind my back. She had had a cough overnight, and I had taken the honey in her room to give her a spoonful to help her cough, and I had left it in there. Turns out the honey-obsessed little girl could not resist the temptation and had some more during her "alone time".

Talk about REALLY mad....I could not believe she would make the same mistake again after our talk.

Oh, Collins. I hope we will look back on your first real defiance someday and laugh. Your uncontrollable sweet tooth got you in big trouble. (Her punishment was no "alone playing time" for a week and no desserts for 3 days.) I certainly expect that this will not be the start of a new behavior pattern because we all know what a good girl you are.

When a sticky parenting situation presents itself, I normally turn to a reliable source for advice: the Berenstain Bears. If only I could be as wise as Mama Bear. So when I don't know what to say or how to handle something, I make sure we have the right bear book from which to learn our lesson.

Here are my latest purchases.... (being afraid of the dark is not a real fear but she is trying to talk herself into it!) sure hope she learns her lesson!