Mom was working in her home office and 2-½ year old Gabriela wanted to play. Mom was just about done, so she sat her down on the floor with a coloring book and turned back to her desk to finish up. She looked back and Gabriela had taken her wallet out of her purse and was proceeding to dump its contents on the floor. Mom said, "NO, it's not okay to play with mommy's wallet", and put it back. Gabriela started to argue and mom noticed the power struggle beginning and also the signs that happen just prior to a tantrum. Instead of staying in the struggle, mom got down on the floor and looked at Gabriela and said, "What would you like to do instead? Tell me what you want to do and I'll play with you." She immediately stopped fighting and said she wanted to color with mom. Amazed, mom sat down and had fun coloring with her daughter. Saturday came, and dad offered to take the kids out for awhile to let mom organize her office. They had been battling with Gabriela over getting in her car seat and the "Captain of the Seatbelts" idea did not work. As they were getting in the car, Gabriela began to fight and dad said, "How about if we see how many seconds it takes to get our seatbelts on?" He began counting as he put his seatbelt on, and 4 year old Jacob did the same. Gabriela picked up on the game and went along. She did it in 7 seconds! The next time mom was in the car with the kids, Gabriela was fussing and Jacob said, "Mom! You have to count!" Congratulations on your great family teamwork!
Gwen & Richard Ojalvo, Oak Park
