Cross-purpose advice

Surely you've read it somewhere, in a marriage advice book, Dear Abby or just heard it from a friend: don't go to bed angry.

Tonight I was pondering the applicability of this advice to parenting as well. We had a trying afternoon. And by trying, I mean food throwing. We had several time-outs -- which, strangely enough, we did not enjoy very much -- but the food throwing continued. I finally dragged him upstairs to bed at 6 with his arms reaching out over my shoulders saying "pizza! pweez! pizza! pweez!" in a most pitiful tone. But I would have none of it, having spent the last half hour cleaning up from his escapades. Plus, he'd eaten an entire can of baby corn before the throwing started, so I knew he wasn't hungry.

So as I was putting him to bed, I was annoyed, more than a trifle. But then as we settled in to read his good-night story (you know, the one with the hidden gay agenda -- gasp!), he started giggling and piped up at all the right places, i.e.:

Me: "...and in goes Duck."
Jared: "Din-don!"
Me: "Ding dong! Who could that be at the door?"

and

Me: "Maisy runs downstairs to see who it is."
Jared: "Hewwo loolah!"
Me: "Hello Tallulah!"

And thus, I was not angry by the time I laid him down in his crib. Who could be, after that?

Brusha brusha brusha, getting ready for bed.

Comments

[chip]

I do think it's just as important not to go to bed angry with kids. It's hard sometimes to talk it out, especially when kids get older, but I've tried to make a point of settling things on a good note before they go to sleep. Good night story rituals are a great way to do that.