Here's the deal. When one of your kids is grounded, you're grounded. Everyone's heard that before, but it's really true. Especially if you've grounded them from things like the phone and computer. You feel you can't leave the house (meaning, leave the child unattended) unless absolutely necessary. Because everytime you leave, there's always the chance that they'll sneak those little privileges back. And if you catch them, then hooray! More fun confrontations ahead!!
So worse than being stuck at the house is the tension that hovers around. You can't fully enjoy yourself when one of your kids is unhappy, whether they deserve it or not. No doubt, this kid deserves it, but it still sucks.
I've decided to get tougher. I guess too often in the past I've been a softie. Which sounds so strange coming out of my mouth, because I feel like a bear a lot of the time. So I'm getting on board with her dad and stepmom and Alan, and this little bundle of joy is severely grounded for a long time. Will it work and convince her to change? No. Absolutely not. I stopped being naive about that a long, long time ago. But we still have to do it. She messed up big.
And today I know without a doubt that there will be at least a couple of third graders who will disrespect me, at least once. I just tell myself that they might have parents at home who haven't lost hope in their kids either.
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