is this what it's going to be like?

Last week, Jadyn spent the better part of 2 days gated in her room. (I let her out to eat, of course.) Ashlee called it the "Great Toy Standoff of '08." The disagreement was about picking up toys in her room - I told her she must, and she refused. So after trying a number of disciplinary methods, I finally told her that she wasn't leaving her room until she picked up her toys. Thus the standoff. She had started to pick up her toys by late afternoon of the 2nd day, but the standoff ended when Joe came home and took matters into his own hands.

The other night, Jared decided he didn't want to eat the last half of his banana and promptly deposited it on the floor. This being an unacceptable behavioral choice, I told him to pick up the banana. As this was not on his list of things to do, he and I disagreed for the next two hours about the placement of the banana. The banana standoff finally ended when I decided that he was far too happy to just play in the 4 square feet of the kitchen to which he was confined and that he would probably fall asleep on the kitchen floor before he would willingly pick up the banana. So I had to make him pick up the banana and throw it away.

I never really saw myself as a stubborn person. I mean, I know that I have my opinions and that I'm pretty certain of the way that I do things, but I never really felt like I'm the type of person who is just stubborn for the sake of stubbornness. And I'm sure if Jadyn or Jared could articulate their motivations, they wouldn't categorize themselves as simply stubborn either. I'm just getting the feeling that this is what it's going to be like - navigating very strong personalities and figuring out how to guide them.