Little Miss O's New Rules....

So, before Little Miss O puts on a school uniform in September, I'm determined for her to have a core set of behavioural habits that I am proud of...so, we need to start with rules..

I personally I think most 3 or 4 year olds know about conformity - sure. They know when things are out of place or when they don't seem to fit a mould, but that's only because they've been taught that way. If I wear Mr O's jumper, Little Miss O is the first to spot it. If she didn't know it was Mr O's jumper, she probably wouldn't have anything to say on the matter....

Now, Little Miss O has always been very good at saying 'please', 'thank you', 'may I' and all the other polite stuff, but coupled with her following her new rules, she has received soooo many compliments. Today she attended another birthday party and all the parents commented 'wow, she asked before she ate the crisps - our kids just dug straight in!'... She also asked before she got up from the eating area to play. I can tell that she was as proud as I was that she was following her 'rules' really well.

So, the rules:

1) Listen to grown ups -  I don't like repeating myself 10 times. Once or twice I can cope with, but 10 times is too much. I am her mother not her pet parrot. She now gets this.

2) Eat what you're given when you're given it- There is a time for everything, and the time to eat dinner is at dinner. If my memories of school are correct, the teacher didn't interrupt our lessons to offer us snacks because she didn't feel like eating at the designated time. These are very straight-forward lessons. I just don't think I am asking for that much. We have a routine for a reason!

3) 'Don't give me any sass' - Little Miss O is the queen of one-liners and they have made for some very funny blog posts/facebook status updates. Those I love and I would never want to stifle that comedic part of her little personality - but when it comes to hands on hips and eye-rolling, this is just not cool! If I accept this now, what on earth will she pull out when she's a teen! Nipping it right in the bud people...nipping it in the bud!

I will be adding to these rules, but these are the core issues we needed to address in our house at this time...so far so good....

Now, with every rule there has to be a consequence. If there's no consequence then where's the incentive not to break the rule? I sound so militant(!), but hear me out... I feel that natural consequences work best. For example, when your boss is away, you still work because you know that if you don't you will only have to do it later... its a natural consequence of being a bum! : ) In our house, if I have warned her with 'stop waving your arms around, you don't want to spill your drink darling', and then she doesn't listen and spills the drink, the drink is gone. There will be no replacement drink... its a natural consequence. In only a week, she has learn quick sharp that every action has a consequence and I can see her stop and think to herself before she does something....

Now we have the rules, next up - the consequences.

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