Last night S put the big children to bed while I sat downstairs and listened. They sleep in a bunk bed and because of some problems F has been having with sleeping (which translates into Mama not getting much sleep) we swapped them last night so that he is on the lower bunk now and Su is on the upper.
Anyway S was trying to get all of their animals, blankets, etc. swapped around and everyone laid down quietly. The rule is that they have lie quietly for five minutes and then they can talk quietly to themselves or sing. Last night as soon as the five minutes were up wild giggling broke out. S investigated and found that F was amusing his sister by hanging his stuffed frog from the bed.
He explained very seriously to his father that Frog wanted to be up, not in bed. S replied that Frog could come into our room so F could go to sleep. He removed the Frog and wisely went to sit in our room where he could respond quickly to further playing.
After a few minutes F: “Papa, Frog is calling F, F in a whiny voice.”
S: “No, Frog is quite happy here. Go to sleep.”
They went back and forth with this a couple of times before F settled down.
I was in stitches downstairs but then I started thinking about making excuses which is something F has been good at since he could talk. Until recently those excuses have seemed to be more explanation attempts than trying to get out of consequences but in the past month or so they have changed. Now he often tries to justify his actions or prove that he isn’t wrong/didn’t do wrong.? We are trying to help him learn to be wrong, but it’s a bit of an uphill battle giving him opportunities to be wrong when he is smart enough to be right most of the time.
Suggestions?