Help me process this and did I do this right?

[hbmamma]

This morning we went down to the bus stop to wait and say goodbye to the girls' cousin, J. It's been really wet for the past few days, and I didn't want the girl's to get their clothes wet (especially since Clara is going to school later in the morning). So, I stated that they had to stay on the driveway. Emma kept running to the road to check the mailbox - the 1st time I had told her that it wasn't okay because it was near the road, and we'd get the mail when we were heading back to the house. I repeated my statement 3x with the condition that we would go back to the house before the bus came if she didn't listen to me.

the fourth time, we headed back to the house.

Here's how it happened: Emma was running to the mailbox again. I yelled for her to stop. She didn't acknowledge my demand to stop. I went over and scooped her up. She's screaming as if I'm abducting her. She kicked my coffee out of my hand and refused to walk. I was very :mad and I yelled. She turns into a velcro monkey when you remove her from something. She grasped onto everything she could to stop me - my leg, my shirt, whatever she could get. We got to the house and I litterally had to push her through the door way, cause she was holding herself in the door way. She's very dramatic in her falls (really, she makes them very dramatic - think hollywood dramatic). So I shut the door to get Clara who had run off. Meanwhile, Emma runs back out of the house screaming, "YOU CAN'T MAKE ME LISTEN AND I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT!!!!!!!!!" Back into the house, I place her in her room, more for my sanity than anything else.

This sort of thing is happening more often and I just don't know what to do anymore. I was very angry :mad and it was known. I didn't hit or make foolish threats. The fact was she wasn't listening and the consequence was that we'd head back to the house. Natural consequence, right? I know the yelling wasn't cool - I could have handled myself better. I just don't know what to do anymore :/ :shrug

[Close2MyHeart]

:hug2 The only thing I would do differently is stop it after the first time. I would say not to run to the mailbox and if they did it a second time, I would hold them to ensure it didn't happen again.

[MarynMunchkins]

Her comments sound normal for 5. There's a lot of rephrasing and "try again" that happens. And lots of apology and pictures drawn to say sorry. ;)

The only thing I would have changed was to go back home after the first time. :hug

[BHope]

How frustrating. :hug2 I agree with the PP's in that I would have said it once and then made it happen. If possible without getting too emotionally invested. "Because you are not listening, we are going back to the house."

Another option would have been to insist that she hold your hand near the road if she couldn't stay near after her first warning.

I tend to be fairly strict around roads and playing near roads though, so my girls both know that there is a precident of "do not go near the road alone" in our home.