A Breakthrough in Parenting

My entire parenting career I have wondered if my children (or more specifically Weston) would ever just listen to some instruction and do it. It often feels like I am talking to a wall. I am not sure if it is selective hearing or if he really is just so zoned out he can't hear me, but if I call his name there is usually no response. Requesting things of him usually feels like I am just wasting my breath. He has followed simple commands for a long time such as "go get your shoes please" or "throw this diaper away please" but anything like "come here" or "please don't do that" is not even worth trying. But, I have perservered and continued to request things of him although it usually resulted in me going to him and "assisting" him in the request I wanted.

Thus comes the breakthrough. Earlier this week Weston was sitting at the table coloring with his crayons (one of his favorite activities at the moment). He would get distracted by the movie on the television or by the activities going on in the family room and climb down from the chair(several crayons in tow) to go check it out. Not wanting to find crayon marks everywhere, I told him that crayons needed to stay at the table. So, if he wanted the crayons he needed to sit at the table, or if he wanted to be in the family room that he needed to leave his crayons behind. I gently walked him back to the table and reiterated this request. He started coloring and no more than five minutes later he was back in the family room with crayons in his hands. I walked to him again and gently led him back to the table once again explaining to him what needed to take place. Of course, another few minutes pass and he decides to get down yet again. As he is walking away I call to him and tell him that the crayons need to stay at the table. He looks at me, grins, walks back to the table and gently places his crayons on top of his coloring paper. He then skips off into the family room.

I was so blown away. Boy did he get some major praising. I was clapping for him, kissing him, telling him what a good boy he was, what a great listener he was, etc. I think he enjoyed all of the attention. I was just so taken aback. I was absolutely floored and quite ecstatic.

The next day, he was standing in front of the television so that his cousins could not see. This is a battle we deal with several times a day. Once again after several "lessons" on how to sit on the floor or on the couch, I asked him to step back and go sit on the couch. He looked at me and proceeded to walk back to the couch and sit down. Insert praising here. He is so cute!

But, it was nice while it lasted. The past couple days he has been horribly cranky, so no such luck on the listening front for the time being. But, I will take what I can get. He is a great kid. I couldn't ask for anything better!