Punishment

Sometimes when the girls are punished for their behavior I feel like I am punishing myself, too. Like, I am NOT doing myself any favors when I have to listen to the stubbonrn six year old scream from her room because she is mad at me for sending her to her room! Can I send myself to my room, instead?

Last Friday we took tv away from the girls for a week when we caught them watching a teenage show that they KNOW they can't watch (it's like crack for kids). Things were going pretty well with this consequence, better than I would have imagined. There was very little whining or complaining. They were playing more together and outside all day. All good things.

Then we went to my mothers for Sunday lunch, and I caught them laying behind the couch and under the end table secretly watching THE SHOW (that they can't watch) that my niece and nephew were watching!

The audacity! The covertness! The kinda-funny-but-don't-laugh-in-front-of-the-kids silliness of the whole set-up!

Now, they have lost tv for a whole month. Eeeekkkkk.

I admit that TV is a nice distraction sometimes, say when I want to take a nap or am on the phone with a breastfeeding helping call or I really, really need some quiet to concentrate on a new design.

But we, my co-conspirator and I, think that they watch too much tv. Way too much. We didn't even have cable for the first 6 years of these kids lives. They watched PBS, occasionally. They had no idea who SpongeBob or Hannah Montannah or Zack and Cody were. But now it is oh-too-easy to hit ON on the remote and veg-out.

So we are embracing this month without tv! It will be good for them. No! Great for them!! I might just suffer a tiny bit without naps, peace and quiet, and a much needed break from their bickering.