Medicine Meltdown / Let Her Cry

DD has been having strange meltdowns lately. She has been sick for almost two weeks as well so that may be what is pushing her over the edge. The other day she needed to take some medicine which she doesn't like. Z man and I both decided to tackle this one because she started to fuss. Z man promised juice to help wash it down but she wouldn't have it.
She started to whimper and cover her mouth. Tears welled in the eyes. Z man started to back down and said he wouldn't make her take it but I felt that it was more important that we get her to take it because we know better and sometimes she was going to have to do something she didn't want to because we said so. I was trying to work with Z man, to be firm and not aggressively disagree, to show the all important 'united front'. He felt that due to her behavior at that moment, that she would just spit out the medicine, which he said in front of her. I pushed and so I held her hands away from her mouth and he poured the medicine in her mouth. She did spit it out, forcefully, all over his shirt and hers. This made me very angry because earlier today I had given her the medicine and she hadn't made such a fit over it. She picks up on everything and I felt certain that she had heard her father say that she would spit it out, and so she did. I picked her up and moved her rapidly to the bathroom tub, where she spit up more of the medicine. I looked her right in the eyes and told her how disappointed I was in her behavior, that I knew she was a big girl and didn't have to act out this way. I told her that sometimes she was going to have to do things that she didn't want to do and that mommy and daddy know best. I was angry but I don't think I flipped out on her. I was just firm. I asked her if she understood what I was telling her. I knew I had her attention when she said that next time she'd just say, "Ewww" (which is what she says when she doesn't like the taste of something). Then Z man got another dose of medicine and some juice to wash it down and voila everything was fine. She did have to have a bath because the spit up and gotten in her hair. But she had stopped crying and no longer seemed upset one way or the other.

She has told me recently, when I have asked her to calm down, that she needs her tears so I have tried harder to respect her need to get upset. As long as it is not annoying anyone around us, I let her cry it out a bit