Grafton's behavior over the last few months has, at times, been, well...trying. And trust us when we say that Grafton's teachers would agree with us on this one. Perhaps it's that Grafton has just been trying to assert his independence, but the little guy simply would not listen to instructions. You could ask him, then tell him, them order him, and then blow up in anger in front of him, and he would simply go on doing whatever he wanted. It was not fun for any of us. Or his teachers, who were even forced to implement some Grafton-specific positive-feedback tactics to improve his behavior at school (with limited success).
But we believe our son may finally be turning a corner. With increasing frequency, Grafton now will listen to us, after even just one request. And if he's done something wrong, made a mess, or otherwise upset us in some way, he now shows a modicum of remorse when we scold him. In the past, if you had to raise your voice with him, he would just get more impertinent and mock your anger with a silly grin. But recently, you can tell he actually feels bad, and has even become teary-eyed and pouty in response to a scolding. And once in a while, he'll even explain to us why his actions were wrong and what the consequences might have been.
So perhaps life will get a little easier around here for us all, with a lot less yelling and arguing.
Please don't get the impression that he's turned into a perfect angel--he's still very much a free spirit and has a strong sense of what he wants to do (or not do). And we love that about him. Sometimes. :-)
This is such nice news to hear. Grafton clearly learned that his behavior was unacceptable and was able to alter it by his own self-imposed modifications. Brilliant.
ReplyDeleteNana