The day my baby began walking is the day that he began throwing temper tantrums daily. It was common to see him throw himself onto the floor, body shaking, and screaming at the top of his lungs, all because I wanted him to get dressed, or I said no, or I simply couldn't understand his language. I've tried everything to stop the tantrums. I mean if he is going to do this before he is 2, what are the terrible twos going to be like? We did time outs, ignoring the behavior, giving him attention when he is good, making sure he is well rested, leaving fun outings during melt downs, telling him no in a firm voice. Nothing helped, until 3 days ago.
Three days ago, I happened to buy a collection of rubber stamps. It came with 2 ink pads and 17 rubber stamps with different animals on them. Our little one loves animals, and he loves stickers, so I thought he might like stamps too. Well, since that outing went off without a single tear or scream, I decided to give him a stamp and let him choose between two animals. I told him he got that because he was a good boy and didn't scream or cry. He was so proud of himself. He showed me that stamp all through out our next stop. At that stop there was no screaming, so he got another stamp. This reward system has gone on for 3 days. He has been so much more cooperative and my ears have had a well deserved break. Our little guy has even begun helping me pick up his toys at night and laughs excitedly when he gets his stamp for the good deed.
The turn around in our toddler's behavior got me to thinking about how I can apply this knowledge to other people, including my husband. All it took was a little recognition for what our guy did right to get him to want to be good more often. My husband is the same way. He really does a lot for this family and does it without the recognition he deserves. My hubby sacrifices time with our little one, seeing all of his first achievements, hearing his laughter every day to go to work so that I can stay home. He deals with work related stress and headaches all day. Then he fights traffic so we can live in an area that we love. And after all that, he comes home and plays with our baby even though he is exhausted and hungry. He even watches our baby on weekends and takes him out of the house so I can rest, shower, and regain my sanity. If I don't start recognizing all he does then he may start having temper tantrums. Yup, he's a pretty good guy. I think I'll go get him an "I love you" stamp.
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