You'd never guess by looking at this overwhelming cuteness that Tommy does occasionally struggle to control his temper. He probably struggles less with it than your average 5 year old, but it's still there.
Now, one would never describe Tommy as mild mannered. The boy, he is intense. That's not a bad thing, because it means he's very good at focusing and perservering and is overwhelmingly enthusiastic about things he cares about. He's also very sensitive, cheerful, open and confident. He's very, very opinionated and strong-willed, but that hasn't really been difficult for us since he learned to talk, because 1) we are also very opinionated and strong-willed and 2) he is simultaneously very sensible. As long as we explain things to him, which courtesy and respect would lead us to do anyway, we've usually golden. As a matter of fact, Tommy has never faced a serious punishment.
Until now.
He's been threatened from time to time - "you must do X or Y will happen" - but we've never had to follow through. I know we're lucky in this. He's done stupid, careless things, but never on purpose. He's always remorseful when he makes a mistake, immediately upon realizing what he's done, so we've always been able to just give him a stern talking-to and then trust that he'll never do that thing again. He's not defiant. He can be argumentative, but he's moderately polite about it and will back down if he sees we're serious.
Until now.
He was angry with us yesterday for sending him and Charlie inside while we were saying goodbye to some friends. They were acting a bit out of control with the gravel and the rain-filled sandbox and we were tired of trying to reign them in, so we sent them inside. Tommy was NOT happy about it. Being mad is fine in our house, but you have to go to your room for it, so off he went. But then he opened his window and started yelling for our attention. And then he head-butted the screen and broke it. He wasn't TRYING to break it, but that's still destructive behavior spurred by anger and NOT OK.
David was very mad, but then David is a paragon of self control. I was amused because Tommy inherited his temper from me and I could totally identify with wanting to smash something. I hid my amusement, of course, because there's a difference between wanting to smash and actually doing it. Tommy was HORRIFIED at what he'd done.
But then he tried to say it was an accident instead of owning up to what he'd done. We were already headed toward serious consequences territory, and that little attempted cover-up pushed us firmly over the line.
His punishment was a ban on all TV/computer for today. Charlie still gets to watch TV at the three usual times in his daily routine, and when Charlie's watching TV Tommy has had to entertain himself in his room. Plus, Charlie is currently napping and Tommy is having quiet time in his room instead of watching TV for his quiet time. I didn't think there was any reason I should be punished along wtih Tommy.
It's acutally going quite well. He's been a bit dramatic and weepy at the times when he usually gets to watch, like when he first woke up, but he's entertained himself remarkably well, without whining. It helps that we bought him a new desk Saturday. He's been sitting there doing legos and drawing and listening to audiobooks most of the day.
Don't worry my friend, the day will be over soon, and Daddy was able to fix the screen.
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