Do You Ever?

[Michelle]

I had a naughty one here like that. I learned to just tell it like it is, but with a nice delivery, because sometimes dcm would come in the next day asking if dcb did such and such the day before that I didn't mention to her (dcb told on himself). She seemed unhappy that I didn't tell her, but like you, I felt like I was so negative about him all the time. He was a nice kid, but with a very wide naughty streak!

So, with your situation, I probably would have first said something fun we did that day (You had such a great hiding place when we played hide-and-seek, didn't you, dcb? Tell Mommy where you hid.), then would have said something like, "And thank you for helping me clean up the mess you made at lunch after your time-out. You learned why we need to keep our food on our plate and not squish it with our feet on the floor. It's tough to get out of the carpet, isn't it?"

Same information, nicer delivery.

oh wow, ok
so getting the point across in a very nice way
thank you

[Chellieleanne]

I have the same issue with dcb who is 2.5, mom knows he isn't the most well behaved kid so it isn't a surprise when he has a bad day but I do try to say something that went well. Usually along the lines of "he had a better day than yesterday" or " he was using his words today instead of hitting" and that is good enough for her. Every once in a while he has such a bad day that I just let her ow "hey, he had a really rough day today even after taking a nap. Maybe there is something you can try tomorrow morning so he has a better day?" However those type of days she already knows he is in a bad mood on arrival and it rarely gets better during the day.

[Childminder]

How about…Johnny had a bit of a rough day today and tomorrow we are going work on having a better one.