parenting question

[shawnsegler]

[quote]["The greatest gift to give a child is LOVE."
/quote]

QFT!

BTW, Meeks. I think the other thing to take into account is (as was stated earlier) that your wife obviously is coming from a child state when she acts like this. We don't just uniformly grow up. There are different areas of our lives where we either mature as time passes or not, and often enough there are issues not addressed in peoples lives that leave them virtually children in those areas and not just a little. It was the first thing my mom brought up in her role as contributing psychologist when I brought this up to her tonight. You, as the one who is more mature, and also as the "man" of the family need to help that part of your wife that is a child to mature, so keep it mind when you deal with her about this. She will likely feel ashamed when she acts childishly and so be very emotional and defensive around the subject.

I'd go get yourself some coffee or a beer a beer somewhere and brainstorm some scenarios (don't just think about it, write it down...it's cathartic to do some sort of physical action associated with the thing you want to remember) that might come up based on how you know the two of them work and have these ideas in your mind when it happens.

I wish I could tell you exactly what to do, but you know them, I don't. Just be patient with both of them and give em lots of love. They are the most important things in your life, right?

Best,

S

[zenshiite]

Louis CK is awesome.

[gretel]

i guess Granny should weigh in, although actually I've forgotten everything I know about child rearing. And there is a lot of good advice in this thread.
But the first thing i thought of was, 2 and a half is really young. are you expecting too much from her? reasoning with her and giving her too many choices doesn't work at this age.
Running after her with a toothbrush is just a game to her. Don't do it, but later tempt her with a fun kids toothbrush and tasty toothpaste.
Give her lots of approval when she does something you want, and ignore as much as possible behavior you don't want.
I agree it's probably a cultural thing with your wife. Talk it through, find some good books, and give her lots of approval and loving support.

gretel