Wisdom or Voodoo (2)

Part 2: Parenting Voodoo

One of the tips the authors of Child Wise give is to require your child to respond to your directions with a "Yes Mommy" or a "Yes Daddy." Their reasons are twofold. First, it lets you know that your child heard your instructions. Second, it helps your child to take ownership of their actions and their decision to obey you.
The night that I read that particular chapter, Truett got out of his bed. He knows that getting out of his bed means that he will go sleep in the playroom in his crib. I went upstairs to get him and he immediately climbed back between his bed and the wall. I had to drag him out from behind his bed while he kicked and laughed. Normally, I would pick him up and carry him to the playroom, put him in the crib and walk out. But instead I stood him up on his feet and I took hold of his chin so that he had to look at me. I said, "Truett, I want you to walk to the playroom with me and climb into your crib. And I need you to say 'yes Mommy'." And then I waited. He made some very odd faces at me and for one moment, as he widened his eyes as far as they would go, I was actually worried that something was wrong with him. But then he stopped and looked me in the eyes and said, "Yes Mommy." And then, I kid you not, he took my hand and walked to the playroom with me where he crawled into his crib and laid down without a fuss.
I came back downstairs feeling a little shell shocked. I told Sam what had happened and said, "It was like voodoo magic or something." Now since then I've been requiring the boys to respond to my instructions in that way. It hasn't always yielded the same magical results. In fact, today Truett looked right at me and said, "No Mommy," so I'm not saying it's the ultimate solution to everything. But I'm going to stick with it because I have nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain.