How the heck do you discipline a kid when you are busy laughing???

I swear to god, I have completely lost it.

Tonight, I was sitting in the living room with my two-year old daughter (we don't have a dining room or eat-in kitchen in our apartment) while she ate a muffin in her high chair. She ate one, and asked for another, so I gave it to her and this is how things played out:

She held the muffin up to her mouth and PRETENDED she was eating it (sound effects and everything, followed by "Yummy" and "Aaaah..."), then she would look at me and give me the cute face, which invariably made me laugh.

So after a few minutes, I took control of myself and told her to eat it. I left the room for a minute, and when I came back she had crumbled the muffin into, well, crumbs. But I could tell she had eaten SOME of it, so when she asked for another one, I gave it to her.

Replay make-believe time, and the very first time she did it, I told her to stop and just eat the muffin. She proceeded to drop pieces of muffin all over the floor.

I got mad and put her to bed, which was completely unsatisfying, because she climbed into bed without so much as a wimper of dissent, which is unusual. So, she capped off being bad by being a perfect angel.

My mother tells me that I was like this when I was her age--a complete goodball who was always making her laugh and that I never got in trouble because she was too busy laughing at my shenanigans...

Is it okay, if she is more or less really great, to let this stuff go? Or should I try not to let her get to me? Part of me thinks that it is just part of her personality, and that I should let it grow however it is going to, but part of me worries that it might turn into a form of manipulation... (For the record, I was a really good kid, even with the lax discipline as a toddler, so I am not convinced that letting certain things go will turn her into a spoiled brat or anything like that...)

Any words of wisdom?

especially if the kid sees you laughing.

Yeah, I don't believe in any kind of physical punishment (this doesn't include things like time-out and whatnot of course), so that would definitely be out.

I guess I'll just play it by ear, but I am afraid my husband is going to get home and be like, "What the hell have you been letting her get away with while I've been gone???"

Eh, then again, I am pretty sure he'll fall into it just like I have, lol.

That seems like the most reasonab;e response, if she's got to that helpful phase yet.

She's still really young, but so far she is very good about cleaning up her room--food is kind of another matter--she'll just spread it out, rather than cleaning it up, lol.

I remember my babysitter had three one year olds 'help' clean the wall after one of them drew on it. I know they didn't clean much but it did make it clear that they have to clean up what they mess up.

When I think back at all the cute and not so cute things when mine was little I sooooo miss it.

You won't believe how fast that little sweetie will grow up.

Once they start throwing food on the floor mealtime is over and we move on. I don't know that I'd punish in that situation, but we certainly wouldn't hang out making a mess.

I'm really hesitant to turn anything having to do with food into a control issue though, so take this with a large grain of salt.

very good point--I have thought about that as well, not wanting to make food a control issue--EVER. For most of high school, I barely ate because my family situation was very tough to deal with and I needed to control something in my life.

I've been doing the "when food starts flyin', mealtime's over" thing so far, it doesn't really seem to be stopping the behavior, but maybe she'll get the message eventually...

as they just get a little bit older and capable of saying "I'm not hungry anymore" KWIM? I'll be so much happier when the baby does that instead of spitting on me.

and enjoy her shenanigans. I believe parents should only focus on a few behaviors at a time. I tried to make it clear where my hot button issues were but I let most things go. My big ones were always treating others well and with respect. Most of the time, kids should be enjoyed. She sounds prcious and fun.

Like mine... She's testing your boundaries. She wasn't hungry when she asked for a 2nd. Just though it might be fun to play with one. Next time, give her only one and when she asks for another, then her "all gone!" and get her down. You'll show her that one is enough and if she still is hungry, you can give her something else NOT a muffin. If she doesn't eat it within 15 minutes, get her down and don't allow her to go back for anything else. My daughter (now 5 years) still likes to try to take control. But be setting boundaries and being CONSISTENT... she knows where the line is drawn. Your daughter is VERY sweet and it will get better, just let her know your boundaries and be CONSISTANT every time. :) :bounce: Like me... Some day you'll wish she was back in the "terrible twos". Its hard believe, but someday, she won't want you to hold her or kiss her like you can now :)

Our little girl was a bit older than yours, maybe 3-4. She was sitting in the kitchen and told to eat her sandwich and my wife left the room for a minute or two and when she came back every scrap of the sandwich was gone, very odd for our daughter who was a very picky eater. She told my daughter she couldn't believe she ate a whole sandwich in something like a minute and my daughter admitted she didn't, but said that "Robbers came into the house and took my sandwich" (which my wife found later on outside the kitchen door in the garbage pail).

The next night my wife gave our daughter a big bowl of ice cream in the kitchen and just before my daughter could dig into it my wife told her to please go upstairs to her room and get something. My daughter left the kitchen and about a minute later came back and lo and behold the ice cream was gone, taken, according to my wife's explanation to my daughter, "probably by the same robbers who took your sandwich yesterday".