Well Played Wednesday: Lessons from a 2-year-old

On Monday, Chris, Jayna and I were sitting down to dinner.  As Chris put Jayna in her chair, she started screaming.  She wasn't mad or anything...she was just screaming.


The Back Story

See, we've been dealing with the screaming for awhile now.  She'll scream at me when I ask her something. 

Me:  "Jayna, what do you want for breakfast?" 

Jayna: (walking over to me and getting close to my face)  "OOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEAAAAAALLLLL!!!!!!!!!"

Me:  "Don't scream!!  You'll get a time out if you do it again!!"

We don't scream back at her.  We just tell her in a very stern voice that this is not an approved way to act.  She screams over everything too...happy, sad, mad, bored, etc.  It's the most annoying thing to date.

One night after Jayna was tucked away and sound asleep, I had some time to think without being screamed at.  I said to Chris, "I think we're going to have to cut back on Spongebob.  I think that may be a small part of the problem."  Jayna picks up aLOT from Spongebob...most of which is undesirable.  Chris said, "You really think so?  You think she's old enough to pick up that much?"  He then thought about it for a moment and agreed.


So...back to Monday.  After she stopped screaming, we had the following conversation:

Chris:  "Jayna, I said NO SCREAMING!"  (Again, stern but not yelling.)

Jayna:  "Bob does it."  (here's where Jayna's well played is inserted.)

Me:  "And Spongebob gets a time out for screaming.  And you will too." (and here's MY well played.)

Chris: (trying to be a little more positive)  "You know what Spongebob does that he doesn't get a time out for?  He sings.  And you could sing too."

Jayna:  "I like singing.  No screaming."

It does appear that, in the past 3 days, the screaming has reduced dramatically.  I don't know which factor is key (less Spongebob or the conversation that seemed to strike a nerve in her...or both), but I really don't care.  I just know that I wasn't going to keep my sanity for much longer with her constantly screaming in my face.

And there's nothing like your 2-year-old OUTRIGHTLY TELLING YOU that you let her watch too much television.

Well played, Jayna.  Well played.