Road Trip Training

Yesterday I told you about the beginning signs of a patience testing road trip. Today we had another flag go up, but I tried a new strategy.

All three kids are antagonistic in their own right, but Jace takes the cake when trying to get Gracie's goat. (Anyone know where that phrase came from?) And, of course, Gracie's reaction is a high-pitched screech. I think she usually squawks "no!" or "stop it!" but most of the time it's really hard to understand because it's in a range that I don't comprehend. Whatever she says, though, her reaction drives me bonkers.

So, today when it happened in the car I told her the correct response was to calmly say, "Jace, please stop." And then we practiced. Jace annoyed her and Gracie responded, personalizing things a bit with a little note of whining. After a few practice runs they stopped and moved on to playing.

After that, when she'd screech I'd say, "Ut oh, looks like we need more practice." They'd giggle and practice a few more times.

I'll take giggling and mock annoyance over pterodactyl noise any day.