Parenting 101

Seriously, I need a course in this. Tonight at bedtime, Kyle made a decision to come out of his room within minutes of being put to bed. As usual, I walked him back to bed and locked his door (we have turned the lock around on his bedroom door). Usually, he gets a little upset but goes back to bed and falls asleep. Then when I go and check on him, I leave the door unlocked. Never do we leave it locked overnight when we are not awake. Tonight was a whole different story.

After coming down from locking the door, I immediately heard a hard thunk on the door. This is Kyle's new thing. He was throwing things in his room at the door. It started with board books and cars, the few toys that he actually has in his room. So, I went in there, never looked at him or spoke to him, and took those out. Next he was throwing his little suitcase that his clock sits on (I had already taken the clock out with the toys) and his monitor, so I took the suitcase, the bulletin board that sits on the floor, and the monitor. Next he found some storage containers that are part of his captain's bed and he threw those at the door. I went in and took those out. Then he went in his closet and pulled out the bins that are in there that I have been putting clothes in as the boys have been outgrowing them. He threw the lids at the door. I went in and took out all the bins, laundry basket, and little basket that I keep their socks in. Then he started jumping and taking things off the wall. We have thermometer secured to his wall. He jumped and pulled that down and threw it at the door. So I went in and took everything off the wall or shelves that he could possibly get to. He took the crank shafts off of his windows and was throwing those at the door. Again, I went in and removed them. Finally, he has a low and high hanging bar in his closet. He pulled the low hanging bar out of the closet and was hitting the door with that. I went in and took it. All the while not looking at or speaking to him. He then resorted to just banging on the door and throwing things that didn't do damage, such as stuffed animals and his pillow. Finally after and hour and a half, he was asleep and we unlocked his door.

I don't know how else to handle this. He just seems to want attention and is obviously willing to do whatever it takes to get it. Rest assured there are going to be big consequences in the morning for what happened this evening. Also though, I think that I am going to try and give him some more one-on-one time during the day so that maybe we won't have to go through this again. We have never had any kind of serious problem at bedtime before. In fact, my mother has often commented on how well my children go to bed. Where have I gone wrong?

Pretty sure this takes me out of the running for Mother of the Year. Darn, and I know that I was so close too! It also means that I have clean up outside of Kyle's room. That's where we stacked everything as we took it out of his room.
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