Yes, Mommy

So about 2 months ago, I noticed that Ember was sounding rather rude and entitled all. the. time. Irritating. She was in trouble a lot, lost privileges, got spanked and got praised for when she was polite. Then we tried ignoring it. But there is a limit. And the limit was socks. Yes, socks.

I had asked her to help me get her sister dressed. She said, "uh...okay." Slightly sassy, you know, just pushing the limit a little. I asked, "Could you go grab some socks for Bri?" Ember wanders into Briar's room to complete what should have been a 5 second task. I change Briar's diaper, get her dressed and am playing with her while we wait.
"Ember? I need those socks."
Response. "I'm busy."
What??? "Ember, get the socks now."
"Maybe later."

By this point Briar is crying. I got the socks myself and Ember was just chilling in Briar's rocking chair reading. Ember ended up losing her "big girl privileges" for the day and getting dropped off at day care early. The later because I needed time to evaluate this situation. And I had it, a big duh moment. I'd do with her exactly what I'd do at work. Practice.

That evening that's all she did. She practiced. I reminded her that she is expected to do as she is told every time and the first time. And, I added this on, "The only thing I want to hear when I ask you to do something is 'Yes, Mommy' and then you do it, immediately." Low and behold... I have been hearing "Yes, Mommy!" ever since.

So this learned behavior (thanks so much sassy kiddo in Ember's class, lol) was easily solved by just telling her my expectations and having her practice. She probably didn't even know what I wanted before or that it was important to me. Just this morning, I asked her to clean up the kitchen with me and she immediately dropped what she was doing and said, "Yes, mommy." Music to my ears!