The Power of Reading

It is hard to describe the level of temper tantruming raging through our house these days. We have been trying, on and off (probably the problem, I know, I know...), to potty train Katherine for a few weeks now. She turned three in April so it is more than time. For some reason, Katherine has decided now to let us know that she is not a shrinking violet. She will not use the potty and is clearly having fits of rebellion. I'm talking about 45 minutes of straight crying and screaming, multiple times a day...

The one way I have found to snap her out of it, believe it or not, is by reading. I will hold her forcibly on my lap, through minutes of kicking and screaming, reading the whole time. Eventually, she calms down and begins to listen. There may still be a few bursts left in her but typically by the time I have finished the book, she is calm and jumps off my lap to grab another title.

This morning the crying began as Katherine woke at 6am. I had very little fight in my at that time and apparently, not much brainstorming either. I let her carry on for quite a long time... checking in, asking her what was wrong every so often.

After about thirty minutes of this routine, I had crawled back under my covers in defeat. I turned my head a few minutes later to see Katherine, climbing up on to my bed, still crying, with a book under her arm. She held it out to me and sat on my lap. She calmed down immediately and was ready to start her day.

I would be lying if I said we had no more fits this morning but that one at least was quieted, again, with a book. A book brought to me by the temper tantrumer herself.