Your Not My Mommy!

This evening as I was doing some gardening outside, K and L went to a neighbor's to play for a little while. As it got close to bed time, I let them know they were going to need to come home soon. I decided to let them stay up a little longer and when their bed time approached, I went to pick them up. They were having a good time swinging and sliding. I didn't want them to stop having fun, but it was time to come home. I told K he could slide one more time and he did. Then he slid again. Then he slid again. Needless to say, I was NOT happy because I know he heard me and was intentionally being disobedient. In a calm voice, I made sure he knew that I knew what he was doing and that he would get in trouble when we got home. If you can imagine, he got upset and said that I was not going to give him a spanking. I never said I was.
He then told me, "You're not my mommy". Oh joy! I queitly walked home with a screaming two year old in my arms and an upset 5 year old slowly walking behind. Luckily, T was still asleep when we got back to the house.
This wasn't the first time K had told me that so I knew the other methods of discipline had not worked so I tried to do something different. Instead of "talking" to him or "punishing" him like we had done before, I decided to retire my "mommy" duties for the evening. After I told him what was going to happen, he quickly said, "but you are my mom." Yes, I am, but I needed him to see what it would be like if I weren't. When it came time to bathe, he bathed himself. When it was time to dry off, eventually he dried himself. When it came time to get his clothes and dress himself, he reluctantly did it. When he got hungry and asked for something to eat, I told him he could get something. He chose not to. He then told me he was going to sleep on the couch since I wouldn't fix him something to eat. I told him "goodnight". After standing there for a moment, not really knowing what to do, he turned and quietly went and laid on the couch. A few minutes later, he put himself to bed ~ without a book. Maybe I should have stopped doing some of my "mommy" duties a lot sooner. I'll find out in the morning if he wants me to start doing "mommy" duties again. If not, looks like daddy is going to take him to swim lessons.