Ready for big brotherhood?

Practice makes perfect...

I know at one point i was lamenting that all the damn discipline books i've been reading hasn't worked shite for me, Mountain Boy was then driving me nuts daily and most of the time i just wanted to smack his butt, confiscate all his toys and leave him hungry. But I started to realize recently that actually he isn't as terrible as i thought. Maaaaybe i should give those experts some credit.

He behaves reasonably for his age. He shares his things, he helps around the house and he pretty much does what i say if i explain to him properly. Of course on some tantrum occasions i've had to be very patient and reason with him very extensively, but so far i haven't resorted to smacking, bribing or threats. Warnings yes, but not threats.

Anyway...

Before I got pregnant with baby girl, I chanced upon this book called Sibling Without Rivalry , written by the same authors of How to Talk so Kids will Listen & Listen so Kids will Talk. The latter book was from a recommended reading list from the Parent Effectiveness Training course which i attended late last year.

The book on siblings is an interesting read, I mostly like it for the comic strips. But the very first epiphany is the parallel drawn between a firstborn and a first wife- having a 2nd kid is like your husband taking on a concubine. I can scarcely imagine what it'd be like for me if Mountain Man took a 2nd or 3rd wife. Imagine him saying how i should learn to like wife #2 cos she's so slim and pretty. gah!

So anyway, I've applied some of the principles on sharing and conflict management on other kids and sometimes the results shock me because they work. Freaky like voodoo magic. The other thing that strike me was how the methods differ from what i thought was right. It has made me afraid to trust my "instincts" a little bit.

But honestly, i will only know that these methods really work until i've applied them to all of my kids and achieve good results. I think I also need to get past the impending Terrible Twos because that is the real challenge. *fingers crossed*

PS: Mountain Boy points to my belly and says "meimei" and kiss kiss kiss many times each day. I wonder if he knows what's coming at him!