OMG, office politics. I just don't even know.

Interesting collection of interviews with showrunners and lead writers. Includes John Rogers, Jane Espenson, Zack Stentz, Amy Berg, Javier Grillo-Marxuach.

I am having schedule panic. I just don't even know.

Of course, my problem is that I literally don't know. I just found out that apparently some people weren't that psyched about working with my predecessor, which is causing some of the pushback I've been feeling from people. Most of it is caused by other secret underground issues, but ugh. And oy.

I can still physically overpower mac, it is just that doing so is destructive to our relationship. I shouldn't really include myself in these parental strategy discussions. The hurt child/attachment issues world is an upside down one where opposite behaviors prevail.

It's actually really helpful for me, because Lily has never responded to the techniques for parenting that most people use. They make her defiant or an emotional wreck in a counterproductive way. Paul picked up this book [link] which we're halfway through reading. We'll see how it goes.

oh noes, new job already?!

I have cranked through a tone of work already. I think I should go home even earlier than my early departure. alas...

Plei - this is a book that is next on my list [link] . I am already using some of the techniques with good results. The book may be WAY more than your needs, but I bet the strategies would be in the right vein if she reacts opposite what is expected to consequence/reward approaches.

Round robin alert: smonster, I got the box, thank you! Jesse, give me a day or two and it'll be on the way to you.

Jake is *still* oppositional and defiant at eighteen. We've never found one technique that works consistently with him. Ben and Sara being so mild-mannered is a relief.

Interesting collection of interviews with showrunners and lead writers.

ita, do you know what John Rogers' Worst Experience was? Was it Eureka?

Thanks, msbelle! I suspect it is a harder-core version of the book we're trying.

Matilda and Emmett both respond pretty well to a combination of carrots and sticks. Emmett was way more likely to have a tantrum, but Matilda is much more likely to go limp with a sitdown strike or drag her feet or kill the outing with a thousand tiny cuts.

I mostly focus on behavior and timeouts as response to changing behavior. I purposefully try to leave them space for resentment and unhappiness and whatever emotional responses they're going to have. I'm not in charge of their feelings. They're just responsible for their behavior.

That noted, I'm nsm a hardass and I've also learned not to draw a lot of arbitrary lines in the sand. There are a few specific things that will warrant a timeout.

My biggest lesson came early with Emmett when he was at his most frustrating. And I had to just learn to not let myself get angry or emotionally engaged with that frustration and slow down and look him in the face and see him as a person.

And while I try to be consistent about it, there are definitely times where the best thing to do is let them off the hook. When you can see their anxiety about the issue is really eating them up.

I remember my parents doing that with me sometimes and it was always such a huge relief and engendered a lot of gratitude and willingness to work with them. Just knowing that they could bend.