Parenting 101

Sometimes I still feel like a beginner when it comes to mothering. Today Em and I had another large dissagreement. I helped her get dressed and I wanted to fix her hair because it's always in her face. I put it in a pony and put one of her new headbands in which she promised me that she would wear if I bought them. She started screaming and pulling everything out of her hair. I thought I could exert my authority over her and tell her she had to wear them. She ran into her room and started a chorus of screams to see how loud she could get. I was getting really angry and all the things I wanted to do I knew I shouldn't. But Ballerina was watching the whole thing so I knew I needed to do something so that Em would know that this was not okay. So I went in and took off all her clothes and took all the stuff out of her hair. I told her if she didn't like the way I do things she can do them herself. (You have to know she does not like being naked for very long, Ballerina would have thought being naked as a reward) She immediately stopped crying and screaming. I left the room and she managed to get her underwear back on by herself. But in the process of getting her undressed the clothes got turned inside out. I was in the kitchen and I could hear her start to whine and cry some more, then there was silence for a minute. Then she asked me to come back. I went back and sat on the bed. She didn't say anything at first. I know she was expecting me to dress her. Finally, she asked me to turn her clothes right side out and she put them on herself. She thanked me every time I helped her with something. I didn't do anything for her unless she asked for my help politely. I put two clips in her hair and then she was pretty pleasant for the rest of the day.