Coco To The Rescue

On Monday night, Josh's temper tantrum lasted from when I picked him up at daycare until after he was asleep. Okay, that's only slightly an exaggeration. Josh had a bad day. He was on the receiving end of a few injustices at school which put him in a bad mood. On the way home from the grocery store, Joey told Josh that many of the kids Josh considers his friends aren't his friends at all. Joey explained that these kids only tell Josh they are friends to be nice, but they are all telling Joey that they don't like Josh. How mean is that? I told Joey that he was being mean and I reassured Josh that his friends wouldn't say that. But no encouragement could erase the nastiness Joey had put in Josh's head.

As soon as we walked into the house, Josh started refusing to do anything I asked and telling me didn't plan on doing anything I asked. He went to time out. He called me names and threw things and tried to break things and ran around giggling in a really spooky fashion for hours. He did managed to collect himself enough to finish one time out and eat dinner. But right after dinner, he went right back into it. When he finally got into bed and got quiet, I was exhausted. He hadn't done his homework and he hadn't taken his bath. But I wasn't worried about those things...I just wanted him asleep.

Then I was inspired. I believe that God plants ideas in my head when I need them. I needed this one for sure. When time outs aren't working, Josh loses his favorite toys for a period of time to be determined based on how bad it gets. His favorite monkey Coco (the one I gave him for Valentine's Day) had spent the night with me the previous night. You also need to know that Coco talks...well, not really...but I have a Coco voice that I use to help Coco talk and Josh just loves that. So, I picked up Coco and walked into Josh's dark room and over to his bedside.

Coco said "Hi Josh." Josh hesitated like he was trying to figure out if he wanted to fall for this. The decision must have landed in the positive because he finally whispered "Hi Coco."

Coco said, "I asked Mom if I could come in a sleep with you and she said yes if you would apologize. Will you apologize to Mom for misbehaving so I can stay here tonight?"

Josh immediately said "I'm sorry Mom."

I replied "Thank you Josh."

Then Coco said, "Cool. Group hug!!!" Josh sprung up with a huge grin and the three of us hugged. After a bit of snuggling, Coco said "Josh, do you think you could be good all day tomorrow so I can stay with you?"

"Yes I can!"

Once I tucked Josh and Coco in, I told Josh that I know how hard things have been but that he needed to get his temper under control. He very quietly said, "I don't know how." I praised him for his honesty and promised to help him figure out how.

That night, thanks to Coco, we all went to sleep happy. I wonder if Coco could get Josh out of the middle of one of his tantrums. I may just try that.