Grattitude...

Apparently I missed my post last night. Me and the hubs watched "Eclipse" so I guess I was focused elsewhere. Anywho, tonight I'm feeling very much engrossed in trying to teach my kiddo grattitude. (Moose is the one with the problem.) I can't stand the idea of him having an attitude of entitlement. His current issue is, he whines and complains about too many things, not realizing what he already has, what we've already done, what he's already been given. It's in small ways, but dealing with these little fits multiple times every day can really wear on you, you know? Here's what happened tonight.

We talked to him after his nap about using his time differently because he always gets bummed out about not having enough time to play with the hubs or read more books before bed. So we encouraged him to nix movies or computer games from is to-do today and do other things, which he did. But still, when it came to book time we had problems. I read him 2 chapters from a cool book we've been reading called Knights and Castles. (From the Magic Treehouse series. It's a research companion. Way cool.) I have really enjoyed reading these to him, as they're more entertaining than other small children's books. After 2 chapters it was time to be done. He asked for one more book, a small one. I said no. That started it all. He begins whining and fussing. I remind him of our chat this afternoon, to which he responds, "I wish we didn't read 2 chapters." (Which I know isn't true because he always asks for another chapter, as he really enjoys these books.) In the end, I told him to stop whining or the hubs was going to carry him to his bed. He didn't stop whining until I called out, "Papa!" That doesn't fly with me. I'm way past the, "Oh, you did what I wanted. Good enough." No. If he can't shape up until the threat is flying in his face, he's getting a consequence. I let him pick between 2 things: No song, or being carried to bed. (Sometimes I do that when I don't know what consequence to give. It occasionally keeps him from freaking out because he can choose what he feels is the lesser consequence.) He wouldn't choose one, so the hubs carried him to bed. He hates that. He can't stand being man-handled. Anyway, we finally worked it out so he would stop crying and fussing. When he was calmed down, we had another chat about what went wrong. I know it's probably just an age thing. I don't know any 4 year old who is aware and grateful for what they have. I don't want him to have to experience the opposite to appreciate what he has, but I'm not entirely sure of how to teach him that he's extremely blessed so he'll be grateful. One idea we have is to involve him in community service opportunities. Which we are going to explore as a family. But still, it's frustrating. I know it'll pass in time. I tell myself that if we continue to talk to him about it and teach him right, it'll sink in. I sure hope so. He can be insanely needy sometimes. What he has or is given is never enough. A while back we taught him the phrase "Life is not fair." and made him repeat it over and over again. Perhaps we should begin doing that again. His life is pretty charmed and wonderful, but it doesn't seem fair to him since he can't have everything he wants. If that's the approach he wants to take, then so be it. Life's not fair. Deal with it. I always tell him, when he says "But I don't want..." that I don't want to deal with a whiny or crying boy, but I don't get what I want so neither does he.

I'm sure it's a phase. I know it'll pass. Perhaps not until he has children of his own being ungrateful, but eventually.