Egg Battle

My house is a disaster about 99% of the time with toys and books everywhere. Several times during the day, and especially one last time at night, I attempt to recruit the little one to help me clean up. If we're going with statistics, I'll say it's about 80% successful. (Sometimes it's just not worth the battle, ya know?) I do want her to get in good habits with her stuff by learning to clean up and be a respectful domestic citizen. We're getting there.

Yesterday I set her to a cleaning task while I helped out with something else. She's got a collection of multi-colored plastic eggs that end up in halves all over the place. Some of these eggs have a cool felt "egg yolk" that corresponds to the shell color. (Her caregiver is very clever, and put these together for her.) I was putting these eggs back together and I was almost done when she came over and started ripping them apart.

"What are you doing??" I say to her, "Stop it! I'm trying to clean up! You are not being very nice to Mommy!"

But she didn't stop, so I physically removed her. I wasn't harsh with her or pissed off, just very matter of fact. This behavior is not cool and it isn't acceptable, and she knows it. She was just being a pickle. I started to fill the tub for a bath. The day was o-v-e-r.

She paused on the way to the bathroom, totally un-prompted, and she said, in a humble voice, "I'm sorry Mama. I'm sorry I broke your eggs." And she walked over to the eggs and started to put them back together.

I had a little party inside my heart right there. This is so awesome! I try to be very intentional with discipline and not yell or get crazy with her, even though it's super frustrating. I try to keep a cool, rational head and just speak to actions and consequences. I want her to learn, but not to feel like she's a bad person. Could it be working?