It's all about control
When disciplining a young child or a new puppy, it is essential to keep the upper hand. When my oldest son (yes the colicky one) began to display "attitude" syptoms, I knew that it was time to do something to regain control, but it took me awhile to figure out how to accomplish this. I attempted the "go to your room" method, but my little guy just kept coming out. Next, I decided that if I spanked him after his escape attempts he would surely stay in his room, but this failed as well. My anger eccelerated to the point where he was deffinitely the one in control of the entire situation.
What I eventually discovered was the "hook and eye" lock. By attaching it to on the outside of the door, escape was no longer an option,. I know that "Super Nanny" teaches a method where you spend hours placing and re-placing the child onto the "naughty spot", but in today's fast-paced world, I find my method just as effective, but alot less time consuming. There may be those who see this as a form of abuse, but believe me, compared to the tension that was mounting while placing, and replacing my son back into his room, I truly believe the tendency for subsequent abuse is much less likely with this method. I followed the same principal for appropriate "time spent in room" as most methods recommend - 1 min. per age of child, and after a very short period of time the lock was no longer needed and I had taken back control.
As far as puppies go, one of the methods I used to train my now 3 year old (mom of 5) dog was another matter of gaining control. I discovered this method in "Puppies for Dummies". What it suggests is putting the puppy on a leash while housetraining. eg.) If you spend most of your time in the kitchen, tie the leash to the leg of your table (or something sturdy), place a blanket, water, food, and papers to pee on, all within the puppy's reach, and you never have to worry about the pup wandering off and making messes all over your house. You are also able to observe him closely, so that when you see he needs to eliminate, you can either grab him and put him on the paper (my preliminary method of choice), or put him directly outside.
Initially I found it hard to believe that a pup would be happy with such limited space, but was surprised to find out that this wasn't an issue at all!
What I eventually discovered was the "hook and eye" lock. By attaching it to on the outside of the door, escape was no longer an option,. I know that "Super Nanny" teaches a method where you spend hours placing and re-placing the child onto the "naughty spot", but in today's fast-paced world, I find my method just as effective, but alot less time consuming. There may be those who see this as a form of abuse, but believe me, compared to the tension that was mounting while placing, and replacing my son back into his room, I truly believe the tendency for subsequent abuse is much less likely with this method. I followed the same principal for appropriate "time spent in room" as most methods recommend - 1 min. per age of child, and after a very short period of time the lock was no longer needed and I had taken back control.
As far as puppies go, one of the methods I used to train my now 3 year old (mom of 5) dog was another matter of gaining control. I discovered this method in "Puppies for Dummies". What it suggests is putting the puppy on a leash while housetraining. eg.) If you spend most of your time in the kitchen, tie the leash to the leg of your table (or something sturdy), place a blanket, water, food, and papers to pee on, all within the puppy's reach, and you never have to worry about the pup wandering off and making messes all over your house. You are also able to observe him closely, so that when you see he needs to eliminate, you can either grab him and put him on the paper (my preliminary method of choice), or put him directly outside.
Initially I found it hard to believe that a pup would be happy with such limited space, but was surprised to find out that this wasn't an issue at all!
posted by Heather at 12:20 PM
1 Comments:
Thanks for sharing your experiences on raising a baby. My wife and I are debating on whether to have a kid or not. Right now, we think they may be too much trouble. Good luck raising your baby.
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