My little Picasso

Last night i was in the kitchen when I heard a sound that I knew was trouble. See I knew Kinsley was coloring on her easel and then I heard something that put into mind she was not coloring where she was supposed to. So i went around the corner to look and she RAN. I asked her where she was coloring and she remained mute... so i looked hard and here's what I found.

It's very faint but that's orange crayon! And it goes ALL across my wall! I had to try not to laugh. I did think though about the fact that OBVIOUSLY she knows better (hello she ran for the hills) but I never had the "no coloring on the walls" conversation with her. So i told her that was a bad job and we don't color on Mommy's walls and that she had to help me clean it.

So she helped. While she was helping I told her if she does it again then she will go in timeout.

Later that evening as Chris and I were putting K to bed she informed her Daddy that "I colored Mommy walls!" and then quickly followed it up with "no more, timeout!"... so she gets it.

Here's what gets me. The excuses people make for toddlers. I get they are little and will get into mischief, but not punishing them because they are "only two" and "most likely thought..." seems silly to me.
1. They will NEVER know if you don't teach them it's wrong
2. SHE RAN AWAY as soon as she saw me... she KNEW it was not okay AND she told her Daddy later where she's allowed to color! SHE SOOO GETS IT!

I put K in timeout the other night at my bother-in-laws house and Chris thought I embarrassed her and my mother-in-law hated all two minutes of it. This kind of irked me.
See she hit my brother-in-law in the face, blantenly. She knows hitting is NOT okay and she knows if she hits then she goes in timeout. Hubs thought i should just have her say sorry and move on... but here's why I didn't.

1. She will kick or hit me and then say sorry right away in hopes of not being put in timeout... but you can't teach her that it's okay to hit as long as you say sorry right away. Regardless if you're sorry there are consequences. So now my child RARELY hits.

2. If I don't carry out our disciplining in public she will learn that when we aren't home she can walk all over my rules because i won't do anything. She's not at an age where I can punish her later, it has to be in the moment so she associates it with the bad behavior.

So as funny as I think many of her toddler moments are now, they won't be funny when she's 4 or 10 and not listening to me. They won't be funny when I have the child that can't be controlled and therefore we're never invited to play dates because of that. In my opinion your kid needs to know from the beginning that you have rules that must be followed, if you try to all of a sudden spring these new rules on them when they are 4, they won't understand. "Before you just told me no, NOW i get in actual trouble???"

There will never be any surprises with my child as far as acceptable behavior and I'm okay with that. Because you know what else, she knows how to have fun and be silly AND that she's loved despite my rules. We make messes together, and we clean up together. We play together and we take care of each other.

I tell my daughter "I love you" WAY more then I tell her "No" (most days, lol). She will grow up and make mistakes and she will know that I will always be there at the end of it to give her a hug and tell her I love HER just not that behavior.