Spoiled

At dinner last night, I shared with my wife a few things about Duke Ellington I have been reading. I said that he was a spoiled child. Dao asked me, “What does spoiled mean?” My wife replied to him, “What do you think it mean?” He said, “It means when you get a lot of toys.” My wife and I both know that Dao is a bright kid and he’s also very stubborn. The combination makes him a hard-headed child to deal with.

I notice his behavior has changed drastically in the past year. He enjoys going to school and interacting with his friends. At home he plays well with his brother except when Dan plays with the toys that he liked. For instance, when Dan played with a garbage truck he tried to take it away from Dan. If Dan wouldn’t give it up he would start a fight. I stepped in tell him that Dan is playing with it at the moment he needs to wait for a bit. He would start to lose control if he couldn’t get what he wants. When that occurred I sent him to timeout.

Once Dan is done playing he would give it to Dao. Dan usually doesn’t play with a toy for too long. Dao thanked him and then he moved on. As soon as he grabbed a train, Dao wanted that train as well even though we have ton of trains in the house, he had to have the one Dan was playing with and then we go through the same timeout again. This behavior of his is driving me off the wall and I can’t seem to get through to him at the moment.