Tuesday, November 30, 2010

natural and logical consequences

One parenting "expert" I like to read is Kevin Leman. One idea that he suggests (although it is not original to him) is the use of "natural and logical consequences" for behavior--the idea that the punishment "fit the crime." Sometimes you have to think of a consequence to fit this criteria, but sometimes it happens quite naturally on its own! This was the case yesterday.

Natalie has a habit of trying to play in my pantry, particularly with the spices. I keep the pantry closed up tight when I am not cooking, but sometimes the door the doesn't latch properly, and she finds an opening. I've been working on training her out, but I may not have to try to hard any more.

She got a hold of the cloves yesterday and even managed to get the lid off of the container. Then she got a whole mouthful of cloves! I had to laugh, but she didn't much care for the experience. I think she managed to make her whole tongue numb, and you should have seen her trying to scrape the spice off of her tongue! She hasn't been back in the spices since then. Granted it's only been a day, but still...kind of funny.

3 comments:

Tara said...

That is pretty funny! Connor had a similar experience the other day with steak seasoning, only I think he actually liked the taste.

Unknown said...

Well, steak seasoning doesn't have the numbing properties of cloves. ;)

Tara said...

Yeah! Nick was very sympathetic when I read him your story. I guess he's experienced the numbing effects of cloves before. :)