Wednesday, May 11, 2016

discipline

We have entered the world of daily discipline. Whew, it's exhausting. But, we're hoping to establish early who's in charge. Or at least, who we want to be in charge. 

Last night, it was my last evening solo while D was on a business trip. Kids are early, we went upstairs, O wanted a bath, so even though it wasn't bath day, I knew that would keep him occupied. I started practicing violin with S. R wanted to join O in the bath, so I said to go ahead, we'll practice when you get out. We had loads of time after all. It looked like it would be the rare night that we finished getting ready for bed way ahead of time and could play a game or read extra stories. Ha!  Anyway. S finished and wanted in the tub. I got toothbrushes, towels and PJs ready. Really, it was all wonderful. 

O then turned on the bath water, so I told him he had to get out. No playing with the water because the hot can be super hot.  I cherished the time with him and we played a little and read until I heard a splash and peals of laughter. I went to my bathroom and discovered about 1/2" of water covering the entire floor. Sigh. So much for an easy, fun night. They had emptied almost the entire tub on my floor. I sent S & R to get their pjs on and get in bed. And let them know that they won't get to bathe in my tub for the rest of the month (weighing in my head if this might be more of a punishment for me than them, which is always important to keep in mind in doling out punishment). 

Today, of course, I came home to toys being tossed down the staircase from up above. I promptly made the kids clean it up. I then lined all the kids up and say them down for a talk. This is what my dad did with us as kids. And we hated it. If we knew we were going to get a spanking, we often asked him to just go ahead with the spanking. The lecturing was the worst. And so, I decided that a lecture was what my kids needed. Now I'm exhausted. And running out of privileges to take away from them. 

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