How runaway trains come back...

Whenever Mikie would throw his trains in a fit of frustration, we would just take them away and put them on a shelf for a day or two. Lately, this has not been working. In fact, after I take a train away, he often hands me another one and says, "take this one away too, because he's not doing the right thing." Which means that said train has fallen off of a poorly constructed track due to Mikie's multiple levels with unstable supports or because said train was given too big of a load to haul around a dangerously sharp curve. No amount of logical explanation of the problem or suggested solutions can convince him to reconfigure his track (stubborn little boy!).



So, when Edward went flying across the toy room I decided to take a new approach. After Edward bounced off the wall and landed on the floor, the #2 blue engine "talked" to Mikie and told him that he didn't want to be thrown and he didn't like living at our house anymore. So...Edward ran away! Mikie frantically searched all over our house trying to find his beloved friend and finally relented to the fact that he was gone. I told him that Edward might come back if he saw that he was treating his trains nicely again. Well...a few more trains "ran away" over the next few weeks due to uncontrollable fits of rage. But after a few days of really good behavior, Mikie asked if he could have Edward back. I took this as a great teaching opportunity and helped Mikie type a letter on the computer to send to Edward. It said:



Dear Edward,

I am sorry for throwing you. Please come back.

Love,

Mikie

Here he is putting his letter into an envelope.
Mailing his letter to Edward.
Behold! Edward returns via mail.
Mikie reads a letter that Edward wrote asking him not to throw anymore trains.

Hopefully this works!