I hate the word "misbehave" but I can't think of anything else to describe what I'm talking about.
Tonight for example. I had just finished folding all the laundry. We are all sitting in the living room - dh and ds are watching baseball. I get up to get ds some pistachios and a glass of water. Ds goes over to the stack of shirts, and I ask him if he wants to help me carry them to the bedroom. He says no, and motions that he wants to push them over. I say "Please don't push those over, I just finished folding them." He walks back over towards dh. I go further into the kitchen. I hear dh say "Don't push those over, mommy just folded those. Let's watch the game." Ds looks over at us, and pushes the stack of shirts over. I tell him I'm upset that he did that, and ask him to help me pick them up. He says "No" and walks away. (He is 3yo by the way.)
So, what am I supposed to do? I feel like just letting him do this without punishment or consequence is letting him get away with being a brat. But what is the 'natural' consequence to this? I feel like at this point we should only have to go so far in making sure he doesn't have access to every little thing. He knew full well that he wasn't supposed to push the shirts over, and I don't think that I should have to run around putting them away a milisecond after they are folded just so the little terrorist doesn't get a hold of them, you know?
How do you handle these kinds of situations?
Tonight for example. I had just finished folding all the laundry. We are all sitting in the living room - dh and ds are watching baseball. I get up to get ds some pistachios and a glass of water. Ds goes over to the stack of shirts, and I ask him if he wants to help me carry them to the bedroom. He says no, and motions that he wants to push them over. I say "Please don't push those over, I just finished folding them." He walks back over towards dh. I go further into the kitchen. I hear dh say "Don't push those over, mommy just folded those. Let's watch the game." Ds looks over at us, and pushes the stack of shirts over. I tell him I'm upset that he did that, and ask him to help me pick them up. He says "No" and walks away. (He is 3yo by the way.)
So, what am I supposed to do? I feel like just letting him do this without punishment or consequence is letting him get away with being a brat. But what is the 'natural' consequence to this? I feel like at this point we should only have to go so far in making sure he doesn't have access to every little thing. He knew full well that he wasn't supposed to push the shirts over, and I don't think that I should have to run around putting them away a milisecond after they are folded just so the little terrorist doesn't get a hold of them, you know?
How do you handle these kinds of situations?