Am I at fault?

[mom2acutiepie]

Last night while I was finishing with making dinner I told my 4.5 year old son to go wash up for dinner. Well I guess when he was in there he decided to draw a nice circle on the counter and a square on the toilet seat with crayon. Since I never use his bathroom and he brushes his teeth in my bathroom I didn't go in there until this morning. When I saw it I brought him in and asked him about it. I asked if he knew better than to draw with crayon on anything other than paper and he said yes. I asked him why he did it and he told me that he was mad that I told him he had to wash up for dinner and wouldn't give him milk until I served his food. I had him clean the crayon off and told him that he is grounded from all electronics until Saturday. That means no TV and no computer. 

This evening my mom calls and I put him on the phone with her. Yes he is grounded but I will never deny him the chance to talk to family. I guess she asked him if he wanted to skype with her when she got home and he told her he couldn't because he is grounded. She asked why and he told her. So she had him put me on the phone. I get on the phone and she asks why he is grounded. I tell her and she yells at me telling me that I am at fault. How dare I trust my 4 year old to go wash his hands by himself. He shouldn't be punished because if I was a better mom I would have been up his butt watching him. So really it's my fault that it happened.

Am I wrong for trusting my son to go wash his hands by himself? I will say I know that I am not at fault. I know that I do not need to be up my son's butt every minute of the day. My son almost never does things like when drawing on counters with crayon. In fact this is the first time he has ever done something like this. He is a kid though and will not be a perfect angel all the time. I am a firm believer in punishing my son for doing wrong, how else will he learn there are consequences to his actions.  

[Lorelai_Nicole]

Nope, not your fault. My dd is 4 1/2 and she's been able to wash her own hands for going on two years now.

[brittani]

Was your mom drinking a 4 year old is perfectly capable if wash his hands alone

[yaya89]

You're mom is disrespectful. And yiu were right on giving him a consequence for his poor choice. Now you just gotta talk to youre mom about her place as grandma I mean u are not 5 to be gettin screamed at.

[cherrywaves21]

No your not wrong. Next time yell ^^^ that at your mom. :)

[Dark_Rain]

 Not wrong at all. No offense but your mom needs a reality check. 4 year olds are perfectly capable of washing their hands without having mommy right up their butts.

[teenamarie21]

def. did the best thing! this is exactly how i would have handled it! 4 years old is definately old enough to do those things on his own.

[kaysha]

Your mom needs to chill. You handled the situation perfect.

[Marimaru]

I think if my mom did that to me, I'd say "really, you really followed me to the bathroom every time you told me to wash my hands?"

[CrystalDawn2506]

You are not in the wrong at all. Grandma needs to take a chill pill and leave the parenting up to you. I think teaching kids independence is important for them because they won't be able to have their parents right with them at all times during their lives.

[thehickinhickor]

Nope not wrong at all all tho i do check after she is done maybe night right away just to make sure she was able to turn off the water all the way ...