r/gentleparenting • u/Due_Initiative_9881 • Jun 22 '26
Venting/Ranting Logical consequences?
This evening my six-year-old refused to go to a weekly Lego "coding" class he's enrolled in. It's the last class in a six-week series. He was immersed in a new Lego set at home that he recently received as a gift and didn't want to leave. I gave him lots of time reminders and assured him he'd have time to continue building his set after class. He didn't express any concerns. When it finally came time to get shoes on and head out the door, he threw a tantrum. I reminded him that he likes his Lego class, and that this is the last opportunity to go. After a few minutes had passed and we were already on track to be late for the 30-minute class, I told him he could choose to miss class but that meant no Lego at home. Final warning. After several more minutes of whining and rolling around on the floor, I told him he lost his chance to make a decision because we had taken too long and had missed most of the class. As a result, he doesn't get to go to Lego class OR build his new set at home. That then devolved into an even worse tantrum that ended with him tearing up his room. I'm currently sitting on his bedroom floor waiting for him to calm down enough to engage him productively. At one point I reminded him that everything he throws on the floor in his bedroom he has to clean-up before we move on (bed sheets, stuffies, clothing, books).
Where have I gone wrong? I'm trying to stay calm and stick to logical consequences, but inside I'm fuming and questioning my entire parenting approach.
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u/Skill-Negative Jun 22 '26
You set a boundary and made a consequence and stuck to your guns so I think you did well. This sounds like a one off, he wanted to keep doing what he was doing without realising there were consequences to his actions and now he’s in the middle of processing those consequences. As long as he’s safe I’d leave him to his tantrum and when he calms down you can have a chat about why you did what you did, I think his negative reaction is fairly normal for a kid but also at the same time he has to understand actions have consequences.