Counting One Two Three Four Five

I grew up with an eight year younger sister and we both adored and revered our dad. We loved to spend time with him and everytime if we were asked to choose if we wanted to follow our mom or dad to go out, my dad always won out. My mom on the other hand didn't feel inadequate about herself but rather prefered it and accepted the defeat of the parental popular contest graciously. She would much rather go off on her own to enjoy a day of shopping by herself than having us tagging along. My dad would usually take us out hiking or swimming and we would have a good time poking fun at each other and doing silly things.

That was the lighter side of my father. The other side of my father was the disciplinarian at home. His rod would come down even if he had to chase you down. I was chased several times by him in my life. His words were final if a decision was needed to be made. Me and sister would not even dare to look him in the eye if he found out we didn't do what we were supposed to do. My dad simply commanded our full respect. I remember one of our neighbor's puppy was stolen and my dad saw the actual act itself. He chase the teenage thief down and simply gave him a very stern look followed by strong words. That was my dad and we knew if that teenager was one of us, our butts would have been flattened!

As for me being a dad to a four year old, I am trying to follow some of my dad's footsteps, but I think i am a gentler dad so far. Prior to disciplining, I would always give a warning or a count to 5. My son usually knows when it's 5 what's going to happen if he doesn't act appropriately. I would have to say, this counting thing has worked well for us most of the time. It worked so well that he is using it on his mommy.

My son usually wakes up early and he would try to get mommy to wake up as well to fix him breakfast or to allow him to play on the computer. There was one day that mommy was simply too sleepy to wake up. After a few failed attempts to wake up mommy, my son simply said, "I am couting to five, you don't wake up I time out your pillow!" One, two, three, four five, and mommy's pillow was stolen from her, and guess what?! She woke up!

I think my discipline is working, on both my son, AND my wife *grin*