Hostage-Taking as Parenting Technique

By Brianna

I held a bottle of shampoo hostage yesterday.  It worked great, but at what cost?

Let me rewind a bit.  My little Monkey has just recently become interested in watching movies and TV shows.  This is kind of good for me, because until then, she insisted I play with her all day.  Not just keep an eye on her and interact periodically.  No, Monkey needed her mommy to be on the floor, reading books, playing games, and singing to dolls ALL DAY.  It’s been fun, but Mommy needs to fold laundry, make meals, and organize the family’s business, too.

So now Monkey watches TV, sort of.  She sits to savor some scenes, and runs around playing with her dolls, blocks, and playhouse the rest of the time.  One favorite movie of hers, is Trolls.  When we saw a bottle of shampoo at the store that looks like Princess Poppy, and even has her soft, pink hair, we decided to get it for Monkey.  Well, that bottle of shampoo is now one of Monkey’s favorite dolls.  I tried to get her to leave it at home, so we could go to the gym without a bottle of shampoo in tow (crazy).
“No, Poppy is MINE!” Monkey informed me.

Fine.  Just get downstairs.  I just need us in the car, so I can get to my class on time.  Monkey gets in the car, but thinks it would be fun to climb between the front and back seats, and refuses to sit in her car seat.  But she had set Princess Poppy down.  So I picked up the bottle of shampoo and held it up to my two year-old.
“I have Princess Poppy!”
“Poppy!”
“You won’t get her back, unless you sit in your seat!”
(Desperately) “POPPY!”

Crying, my little one got into her seat.  We got her buckled, and Princess Poppy was restored to her.  She stopped crying almost immediately, and when we got to the gym, she was happy to leave Princess Poppy in the car, as she does with all of her toys when we go to the gym.
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But as I saw my daughter cry about her favorite shampoo bottle friend, I thought “good Lord, I’m a hostage-taker!  What kind of monster would do this?”  We can read all the parenting books in the world, but when you’re trying to get somewhere on time, and your kid is making getting there difficult, all of that education is hard to remember.  That’s why I’m so glad we made these parenting tip cheat sheets.  Now, I’ll have these little cards to toss in my purse.  The extra couple of minutes it will take to flip through them and choose a tactic will be worth it.  It’ll be worth keeping my sanity intact and conscience quiet, and it’ll be worth getting Monkey to do what I need her to, without tears.  We based these tips off of a wonderful parenting book that we’ll be reviewing for you very soon.  To get your own set, all you have to do is sign up for our email list.  You’ll get a PDF of the cards to print, cut, and color.  Ariel and I plan to keep ours on rings for easy transportation, storage, and frantic flipping.  

Click on the button below to download a set of your own.​

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