Aaron the Button Pusher

These few days, Aaron has made a habit of pushing our buttons. Its not that he has any plans to do it. In a way, I can almost say that the adults in this house lead him to it. He does something he's not supposed to, we say "Don't" or "Stop it", he gets the "Aha!" look on his face and then continues doing it with even more enthusiasm. I've tried to remember not to use any words in these situations and just ignore what he's doing or if possible distract him.

Unfortunately, in some situations, its impossible to ignore him. This morning, in church, he pushed one button after another. There is no way to just ignore a noisy situation in such a quiet environment. And, I failed at all distractions and ended up using threats. "Keep doing that and I promise to take you to the naughty square as soon as we get home!"

During the drive home, he says : "Aaron is a very good boy."

I said : "Not really."

He insists that he is and we go back and forth on this awhile.

I thought I could maybe meet him somewhere in between and told him he was a little bit good at the start of Mass. He just kept insisting that he was a very good boy throughout.

In the end, he started to get all upset and he blurted out "I don't want to go to the naughty square!"

Yahoo! I was secretly rejoicing. He's afraid of my threats after all. I didn't think that he would remember that I had said that. OMG! He was actually dreading the moment we got home.

He looked so pitiful and I knew that I should really have carried out the threat since he remembers what I said but I just couldn't. I caved. I struck a new deal.
I told him that if he would be a good for the rest of the car trip home then he could avoid the square.

Maybe I'm digging my own grave for next Sunday's Mass but its done now. I'll have to make sure to take advantage of his next crazy button pushing episode and carry out anything I say then. I almost feel like I should look for an opportunity where a trip to the naughty square is warranted and then make it happen.