Friday, May 22, 2009

Parenting Tip

I've convinced little kid that if he's ever home alone, monsters will come get him.

Monsters will never bother a child as long as a grown-up is around, but if he were ever home alone, or if he ever left our yard by himself, a monster would probably get him.

This has worked out well because now if he protests when I tell him to get his shoes on, I ask him if he wants me to leave him at home for the monsters and he usually goes and gets his shoes immediately. The few times he's tried to test me by saying he'd stay home, I told him okay and wished him luck with the monsters as I got the keys and walked out the door.

He rushes right out and grabs my hand, perfectly happy to get into the car.

Parenting experts would probably say this is "wrong", but I don't see them lining up to babysit or help out any, so they can stuff it.

12 comments:

Kama said...

my kids used to be obsessed with the huge concrete drain pipes (I have no clue what they are called, but they flood fast in the spring). I told them the boogey monster lives in their and he eats children. His favorite are boys (I have 2). My boys have never gone near a drain pipe since. You do what you have to in order to get through the day. If it means monsters have to visit occasionally, so you can turn your back or leave the house, well, so be it.

Mommy Wishdom said...

I love it! You should write a book about the NEW parenting tips.

Julie H said...

When he's 15 he still won't want to stay home alone lol

Anonymous said...

When my son was 2 I had him convinced that monsters would come and get him if he didn't eat his dinner. Went so far as to go open the front door and try to shoo away the monsters that were milling about on the front porch waiting to get a little boy that didn't eat his food.

Also, the nap monster comes and gets kids that aren't sleeping during naptime. The only sure way to avoid the nap monster is to make him believe you are asleep. (At that point I didn't care if the sleep was real or feigned, as long as it was quiet!)

I know I am going to hell, but monster based incentives worked for us too.

Unknown said...

brilliant.

Former Fat Chick said...

oh shit...um, while brazillaint, I'm pretty sure this one will come back and bite you in the ass! hahahaaaaa!

~Gretchen~ said...

If this is wrong, who wants to be right?

Jennifer said...

Unfortunately, this is one of the reasons that I STILL can not get Baby Girl to sleep alone. But with us it is strangers, strangers are our monsters.

Anonymous said...

Hilarious. I can't wait to read about the effects of this later, like drugs. I kid.

p jane said...

Yeah...parenting "experts" probably don't advise starting the van and backing it down the driveway while a kid tantrums on the porch as a motivation technique, either, but we do what we must, eh?

Rachel said...

My parents used stuff like this all the time, and now at 18 I'm just fine. lk probably won't even remember.

lisa said...

I may or may have not used this tactic before........ok....all.the.time.