Wednesday, October 03, 2007

WFMW Backwards Day: How to DISCIPLINE and remove TONER???

So, today is the great BACKWARDS Works for me Wednesday ... and I can't wait to go and see how many wonderful bloggers I can touch with my words of wisdom... [ehem] Don't worry... it won't just be me, you see... YOU can join in the fun, too! Hop on over to Rocks in my Dryer (the hostess with the mostess) and check out all the questions being asked by mommas like YOU and ME! Click on the one that makes you roll your eyes the mostest from vast levels of personal experience, and voila... you may offer your sound, sage advice! Awesome...

Anyway... I have TWO questions today in which I elicit your humble, and experienced opinions/advice -- (not your illicit advice, mind you!):

QUESTION #1: DISCIPLINE. So ... how do you effectively discipline your two year old AT CHURCH after he's done something really bad ... like knock another child down -- or smack his momma (becausehewassickandinaveryfoulmood) -- or hit a child -- or flat out disobey? When all eyes are watching to see that you do it right? When some believe in "spare the rod spoil the child" (yes to spankings) and others believe in "spare the rod or you'll break your child" (no to spankings), and your normal thinking step (the time out spot) is no where to be found? And, those are, of course, purely fictional examples, as my angelic child [cough, cough] would NEVER do any of those things!

QUESTION #2: How do you remove black laser jet toner from your cream Berber carpet? We've tried Folex, which is great on just about all other things (thanks Barb, for the head's up -- it's the best on pet stains -- my loving in-laws got us some!) ... but it only made the spot bleed from the size of a soda bottle cap to the size of a CD. Nuuh--hiiice. In fact, if you read the fine print, I'm pretty sure it said NOT to use it on toner stains. So, basically ... I'm afraid to try anything else unless you PINKY SWEAR that it will actually WORK. You see, I'm getting a little tired of hearing my two year old point at the spot and say, "PeePoo, PeePoo" to which we have to reply, "no, honey, it's not poo poo. It's toner. TONER." To which he says, "PeePoo, PeePoo." And the vicious circle goes on and on and on.

Oh, and by the way... in case you didn't catch the other post I put up today ... it's BOOMAMA'S BIRTHDAY ... go wish her a special day!

13 comments:

Kelli said...

I'm clueless on the toner. Honestly, I would call the manufacturer of said toner and ask them.

As far as the church thing? Ahhhhh, what a dilemma. I would suggest doing whatever it is you would do at home. Nothing confused our kids more than different discipline methods at different places. we learned the hard way. So, we just stuck to our gons.

Which meant that one day, inevitably, I whopped J on the diaper during full blown tantrum at the store. A few people glared at me, and I just smiled sweetly and glared right back.

Sometimes, you gotta just do what's best for the munchkin.

Kim said...

For the discipline issue - I would say directly to the child (right away in front of the victim) -

" Now that wasn't very nice thing to do now was it? How do you think so and so feels when you do something like that? I think you should say sorry to so and so right now. I really hope you won't do something like that to hurt anyone again."

Use a firm tone - embarrassment is a great deterent.

cmhl said...

boy I don't know about the toner--- I love the magic eraser but this my be beyond that!!

why don't you call a carpet manufacturer & ask them?

800-438-7668 is the number for stainmaster. good luck!!

Cynthia said...

I got nothing, I just wanted to say "good luck".

Anonymous said...

I have no idea on the carpet thing (good luck!). About the discipline, for really bad behavior, I would firmly admonish him right there, and immediately remove him from the location. Go outside where you and he can spend a few quiet minutes. That way, he can see that there are consequences to his bad behavior, even when he's in public. (P.S. My eldest is only 3 so I might not know anything at all. ;) )

Pam said...

The church thing . . . two options pop into mind -- one, a little used room/bathroom where you can get one-on-one with the child (Hunter) and look him straight in the eye and apply whichever discipline is necessary.

Option two -- not as easy if the day is a hot one, but take him to your vehicle and administer the appropriate discipline/talking to and then return him to his class.

Have you ever tried Spot Shot for stains? I used to swear by it when we had a house full of carpet that wore spills of everything from grape juice to . . . you know (PeePoo). You can get it at Walmart or Sam's, I think.

Totallyscrappy said...

No real answer to the discipline question, just a shoulder to tantrum on :)
My saving grace was a Bible class without the kiddos because let's face it, church was a wash.

Overwhelmed! said...

I have no advice about the toner.

As for disciplining in church, we usually crouch down to our son's level, look him in the eye to get his complete attention, sternly correct him, make him apologize if necessary, and move on.

Just remember that since your son is 2 even if you correct him on something, he's probably going to turn around 5 minutes later and do it again. They just don't have the attention span yet to figure that out.

We've had to remove Snuggle Bug from the church pew a few times and walk him into the cry room. We never take him outside of the church because he likes that.

Anyway, good luck!

Robin said...

We discipline with a "naughty corner". Wherever we go, we can find one. My precious little guy swung at me and told me he was going to bonk me because I told him he couldn't have more candy at church - as I was standing at a table recruiting participants for our Mommy and Me group.

After I picked my pride off the ground, I grab him by the arm and pulled him over to a corner and introduced him to a naughty corner. I got cheers when I came back to my table.

We like the naughty corner for it's portability. And when I can't find a corner, it has become the naughty wall, naughty spot, you get it...

Tara said...

I have hauled some little tail off to the pastor's office more than once. Not to talk to the pastor, but to get a private place to "discipline" aforementioned tail. If you're not a spanker, you could implement the "naughty chair" which happens to be just about any chair which is in sight.

Marcia (123 blog) said...

Thank you, GiBee, for stopping by and offering me encouragement yesterday. It really does mean a lot - I was quite overwhelmed with all the support :) Overwhelmed in a good way. I'm going to poke around your old blog and I will be emailing you :)

I'm no good with stains...but with discipline, I would remove the child and deal with it. Judging from the looks in my friends' kids' eyes, they know it's an embarrassment for you and play it for all it's worth!

Anonymous said...

http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=64607

Not sure if this will work since it may have set in already, but it may be worth a shot! Sounds like the key is to not use a steam cleaner. Good luck.

Anonymous said...

My sweet, sweet 2yo dumped toner all over my mother's light colored carpet. I was mortified because we definately didn't have the money to fix itand everything we tried to remove it didn't work, so my mom just put a rug over it until she was ready to sell her house. The carpet cleaner guy said that he could bleach that spot out and re-dye it. You couldn't even tell the difference. She didn't tell me how much it cost, but it sure is a much cheaper option than new carpet.