Monday, January 28, 2008

Pissed Off

UPDATE at bottom.

I did not get to go to the conference. My husband drove home this am, and ended up in a ditch himself with his SUV and studded tires. He got out of the ditch (2 miles from our home) and had to stop for two more accidents before he got here. One accident had 7-8 cars blocking the road. They all had to push each other off the road. Then there was a 5 car accident a block up the street from that mess. Glad we are all home and our cars are not damaged.

Now, for the thing I'm pissed off about. My husband called me a "f*ckin ogre". This is because our 4yr old daughter peed her pants this morning before her nap, she didn't ask for a dry pullup (big health no-no to sit in pee), we discovered she had a full pullup a few minutes ago, and she burst into tears telling me she wanted a hug. I told her "pee in pants is wet and smelly. I'll be happy to hug you when you are dry and smell good. Feel free to go take a bath or shower to clean up."

I got that idea from several other bloggers who have adopted older children, going thru the "wetting" experience.

So, what does my husband do? He says "Jesus God. You are a f*ckin ogre". Swell. AND he scoops up the 4yr old (she's almost 5) and hugs and smothers her in affection.

I never said I wouldn't hug her. I gave her a natural consequence for her actions. My husband already thinks it's consequence enough to be in pullups and diapers. I think she needs a gentle reality check, in several aspects of natural consequences, if they apply to the situation. I told my husband "there are lots of consequences to say, being an alcoholic." It's just so. I'm not trying to punish her, but open her eyes to the consequences of her actions.

In the meantime, our daughter is crying profusely into my husband's chest because I won't hug her (since she hasn't bathed yet).

I told her "Well, how about if I wet my pants, and ask you to come sit on my lap and give me a hug? How would that be?" She screams "NOT GOOD!" Well, there you have it. I told her I feel the same way, but I'm more than happy to hug her when she's cleaned up.

Mainly I worry that she has the naive view that this can continue with willy nilly consequences (pullups and diapers), and she thinks the rest of the world is fine with this behavior. I feel it's my job to open her eyes. We have told her countless times that if she pees her pants in kindergarten, kids will make fun of her. We haven't told her this to be mean, but to give her a glimpse of social consequences to her actions. Already she's at the point now where people at church don't want to deal with her in the preschool class. Sigh................
Makes me feel warm and fuzzy, but that's another story entirely.

So what do you think? Think I'm a f*ckin ogre for being straight up with her, telling her I would be more than happy to hug her after a bath and clean clothes? Please weigh in.

UPDATE: We found out she peed her pants this am, just before we sat down to dinner. So, not a real opportune time. But what is with kids? Before today, she's had numerous meltdowns with discovery of her peeing her pants, and once or twice she asked for a hug. I told "no, not at this time". I didn't want her to feel rewarded for peeing her pants, and I didn't want to hug her then and have her use that as a way to manipulate getting hugs. So today I thought I'd go a step further and say I'd hug her after she cleaned up.

6 comments:

Carly said...

I think what you did is fine. But he has to get on the same page with you! At the very least he should apologize to you for not presenting a unified front. He should have told you privately that he didn't agree with your strategy and sorted it out there.

Tell him, he would be more helpful by saying to her "come on honey, I'll get you a washcloth so you can wash up" instead of basicaally saying "oh mommy's just mean".

Gently tell him if he lets her manipulate him with tears he's in for a lonnnng life. He's not doing any favors allowing her to do that (cry to get her own way or attention)

Because firm and mean are two very VERY different things!

hang in there!

Carly said...

But one thing... to be fair... I just thought of this... did you tell HIM your new strategy, to warn him in advance? Or did he hear it when your daughter did? Get him on board. Tell him you need his support.

Diana said...

I think you need a massage, girlfriend :-) Find someone who deals in cranial/sacrum as well as emotional release, not *just* massage. It is SOOO awesome!

MyGirlElena said...

So many parents are afraid to discipline their kids and be firm. They're afraid they'll lose their child's affection. This is absolutely not true. Children need structure and thrive in these types of environments.
Like Carly, I agree that your husband needs to be consistent with you. You are doing the right thing and it's for her own good. Notice how nobody wants to deal with her in the church daycare. If you both continue to enforce cleanliness, I'm sure this will change.

Wendy said...

Definitely not an ogre. Maybe there is a place in the middle where both of you would feel comfortable? What if you say you will hug her when she's cleaned up, and then hold her hand and lead her to the bathroom, encouraging her to clean herself up? That could provide the comforting your husband seems to feel is needed and yet still show her the natural consequences? Have you seen any signs she can control the peeing or is her over-extended colon still casuing control issues? Hang in there, you are both trying hard to help this little girl.

Lauri said...

I agree with your stance 100 % and if it helps at all John & I have had similar blows in front of Livi... he has made snide comments alluding to the fact that I have very little patience with her... this is often at 6 pm after a long day and hardly represents my whole day with her as a whole. As hard as we try to be a united front.... it can be hard.


I think he should apologize to you & tell your daughter that he made a mistake & that he does not wish to hug her in wet pants and that from now on... team work is the way to go