Setting expectations

Whew, it's been a rough couple a' weeks! Basically, James turned 7 and lost his mind. There was a week where we got a phone call or a note home just about every day. Thankfully, I think we turned a corner this weekend and are back on track.. for some reason, turning 7 must have freaked him out a little and had some serious regression!

Anyhoo, during all this, James dealt with many a consequence for his actions. Throughout this, he began to request detailed information on what was coming. If I said, "James, get here now or things are going to get ugly", he would ask, "what's going to happen?". Not in a snotty voice, but like he really wanted further details so he could get mentally prepared. "Are you going to spank me?", "am I going to lose something?", "where will I get a spanking?", "will it be you or Daddy?". It's like he was doing a risk analysis... maybe the punishment won't be as bad as the potential reward...

He actually told me a few days ago that he thought he should "put something metal in his underwear so that it wouldn't hurt if Daddy spanked him". I suggested, "you could stop getting in trouble...?". Why is it, that what seems like such a simple solution to us doesn't even occur to him? Behave, doggone it!

Happy to report that the last few days have been MUCH better!