Alexander got in big trouble the other day. The incident involved a parking lot, running away, and his little sister following him. Oh, and a bunch of yelling on my part.
Later, when we talked about it, he admitted that he shouldn't have run away, but he was angry because he wanted to get to the car a different way than I did. The conversation was going along fine until...
...I tried to get him to acknowledge that he should listen to his parents (and do what we say) even when he disagrees. I said that we can always discuss things later but if I yell to him, "Come back here right now!" he needs to do it.
It took quite a bit of talking and over an hour of sitting in a chair and thinking, but finally he managed to repeat after me: "I will listen to my parents, even if I think differently."
I could tell he didn't mean it. I felt dubious about the good of making him say it, but at least I could pretend to call it good, as if I had won. Ha.
A couple of days later, we were reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume and came to this part just after Peter promises his mother he won't call his little brother "Fang" anymore:
"But secretly, whenever I look at him, I think it. My brother, Fang Hatcher! Nobody can stop me from thinking. My mind is my own."
When I read that line, Alexander got an evil little grin on his face, and I knew he was remembering our earlier conversation. I knew he was thinking, "They can make me say it, but they can't make me think it."
Isn't he supposed to be a bit older before figuring that out?
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