Question
I don't understand Melinda Norris's answer to my last question about my 3.5 year old daughter headbutting at school. Melinda said, "My first question is how the teacher handled it. She needs to say very clearly with a stern, scary voice that that type of behavior will not be tolerated and then isolate her at the very least. I would do the same for her at home." Yes, I would do that--if she did it at home, which she didn't. I obviously am not going to go down and critique exactly how her teachers do their jobs, because most of the time, I think they do them pretty well, and as I wasn't there, I can't really know EXACTLY how it played out, only the basics of what I was told. Melinda also said, "Address it immediately: "NO, YOU DON'T HIT PEOPLE!!" loud and scary and then take her to her room and shut the door." Since I wasn't there, I opted for, "You don't hit anyone for any reason. Period. The doctor says that if you choose to hurt people, you must be feeling sick and need to go right home, have dinner, and go to bed." Which we did. So when Melinda says, "I think some of what you are doing is going right over her head because she is young," I need to know WHICH part is going right over head. Going straight to bed after dinner at 5pm? When she knows she did something very wrong? That's not "nipping the behavior in the bud"? And if so, why not, and how old would she need to be before that particular discipline is appropriate? Thanks.
