1-2-3 Magic!

So we were going through a period in which the kids were acting up and I was yelling at them so much that my throat would be sore by the end of the day. I would essentially throw my own tantrums whenever the kids threw theirs. I would like to say that I was trying to give them a taste of their own medicine but honestly, I was just losing it. I'm talking head-spinning, projectile vomiting losing it--me, not the kids, me.

One day, I realized that my ranting and raving was doing absolutely no good to correct my kids' behavior. Frankly, I was sick of hearing myself too. So I decided that I wasn't going to yell at the kids anymore. A mommy friend whose oldest is two years older than Joey, recommended this discipline book called 1-2-3 Magic years ago. I bought it maybe three years ago, flipped through it and then decided that the time wasn't right to implement it. The tenants of this books flashed before me recently and I realized that now is the time.

The premise of the book is that kids already know what they are doing wrong and parents tend to over-explain themselves. When your kid is acting up or doing something wrong, you look at them and tell your child, "that's one." You give your child another chance to correct their behavior and if they don't, then you say, "that's two." If you child continues to misbehave, then you say, "that's three, take five" (or however many minutes for time out).

It's been working for Joey and Elysha. Sam is too young so I haven't even bothered trying but Lord Almighty, the boy is definitely ready to be whooped soon.

My kids...masking their true insolent identity...