meanie mommy : teeth brushing battle

She keeps on sticking her tongue out, far out, refuses to let me brush her teeth.  10 min. went by and we made no progress.  No amount of singing or coaxing can get Bee to open her mouth.  I decided to take matter into my own hand.  Literally.  I reached out my hand and grab hold of her tongue.  She tries to pull it back in, but couldn't.  I then let go & she screamed.  I told her, that's what happened if she just hang her tongue out. 

Tears were flowing out of Bee's eyes, down her pretty cheeks.  She got big eyes so whenever she cries, they fill up with tears, making her eyes bigger and wetter.  I'm such a sucker for it but I decided to be strong.  She wasn't hurt.  I didn't hurt her.  I sure freaked her out, yes I did, when she can't pull in her tongue.  But that's like 2 seconds.  She always uses tears to get her way with me.  I know my girl.  I ignored her tears, and let her throw her tantrum, screaming and all.  Then when noticing that she's not getting further with me nor attention from me, she yelled "MAMA, sorry MAMA".  I slowly walk over and ask Bee, "can mommy start brushing your teeth now ?".  She smiles and opens her mouth wide


There's no compromise when it comes to brushing.  Bee knows that.  It doesn't stop her from trying though.  Sometime I just have to let her fight our rules, push the boundaries, test out our patience.   When all screamed and done, I will put my meanie mom hat on and put my foot down to enforce the rule, to get her to cooperate.  I let her have her time, let her act out her frustrations, and then we move on.  We always move on.  We always end our night with "I love you" and that makes the battle not so bad.  Until tomorrow night :-)