Consequences

So Bryan and I had to take away Cyrus' firefighting T-shirts a few weeks ago because he is one intense kiddo and whenever he has a passion about something he tends to go overboard with it! He wants to wear them ALL the time and he was becoming too difficult if the "correct" shirt was not clean. So our new rule is that he has to wear a shirt that is not firefighted-related for an entire day, without throwing a fit, to earn one firefighting shirt back at a time. Our plan has been working well, he is getting use out of many of his very nice clothes that were just sitting in his drawers and closet waiting to be worn, and he is realizing that he actually enjoys wearing some of the other clothes, plus he is being extra well-behaved on the days he is not firefighter Cyrus. The other day we were all downstairs playing and Cyrus started complaining about a toy Sage was engaged with, without thinking, I looked at him and said, "I am going to take that firetruck shirt away!" to which he quickly replied, "...but Mom I wasn't whining about my shirt, I just wanted the toy Sage is playing with right now!" Bryan and I try our best to make sure we match the consequence to the misbehavior most of the time, but like all parents we slip up here and there. Cyrus certainly called me on it this time, and I am pretty proud of him for being such an observant nearly four year old to actually recognize that I was not being fair in this situation. It will be interesting to hear his opinions as he enters school in a few years and has the opportunity to experience many different rules and consequences. I have a feeling he is going to be one to point out the injustices that might occur in his classrooms, but appreciate the rules and consequences that fit and make sense!