Mummy's efforts at disciplining Caleb are finally paying off. For months now, we have been enduring crying bouts from Caleb which may arise from any situation that he doesn't like, e.g. if we tell him it's time to bath and he wants to play, he'll say "No!" or "I don't like!". We will continue to insist that he does it (although we don't forcibly enforce it on him, but continue to insist that he does it), and after a while, when he sees he can't get his way, he'll start to cry.
We have decided very early on that we will NOT give him attention when he cries, and not carry him. So we will just put him down and perhaps sit down somewhere and wait for him to finish crying, hoping that he'll realise that crying doesn't get him anywhere. After a while, he'll come over and while still crying, he'll ask to be carried, and we'll say "No Caleb, you gotta stop crying first". It was tough at the beginning, with bouts lasting up to an hour. We would also tell him to stop before we count to 3. That started working a few months ago and he would stop after we go "1... 2...". The crying duration slowly got shorter and it finally paid off a few nights ago.
I insisted that it was his bed time and it's time to rest, but he still wanted to go to the Living Room to play. I closed the bed room door and he started to cry. I followed the usual routine of ignoring him and went to the edge of the bed to sit and just look at him. Even before I made myself comfortable on the bed, he had already started walking towards me, amidst sobs, and then he stopped crying himself and said "Stop".
I was filled with a sense of overwhelming love for that sensible boy at that moment and immediately jumped out of bed and took a piece of tissue to clean his eyes and face.
Mummy's efforts are paying off. Good job Mummy!
