Experiments in Dadification

Just because you can make brown Jello doesn't mean that you should.

Be yourself. Or myself. Depends on who we are talking about, really. Which right now, is me. So... myself it is. 


You get the idea.

I realized recently how much I feel like a tool every time I try to lecture the kids. I switch into lecture mode, and all of a sudden, it's as if I've stepped back, switched into autopilot, and now I am just watching the whole thing unfold in front of me from the 3rd person. 

I don't sound like myself at all, and they don't seem to get the message, or even to really listen.

My experiment of the day: acting like myself when reprimanding the kids. 

This morning, Ellie told me that Cam had hit her. I told her that I was sorry that it had happened and I asked Cram if he had hit his sister. He said yes. I told him, in as mellow a voice as I could muster, Cam, don't hit people. Do you know why we shouldn't hit people? Because hitting people is lame. It's really just not cool." Simple enough, right?

I am going to try this out for a bit to see if it sticks. If nothing else, I felt I bit better about myself than I usually do when trying to dish out some discipline.

Also, the next post happened.






update: after dinner (and hours of not mentioning it), Ellie said to me (without any prompting or context), "hitting people is lame, huh Dad?" I asked Cam what hitting people was, and he responded with a perfect, "lame." I was stoked that they had remembered it.




parenting, discipline, reprimand, reprimanding, lecturing, chastising, calm, hitting