Tough Love

I'm sick of being the nag.

I'm sick of the lack of response when I call them down to do their jobs.

I'm sick of being known as The Sheriff.

I'm sick of the antagonizing that goes on daily. Multiple times daily.

I'm sick of the overall disrespect and OUTBURSTS!

I'm sick of feeling like the bad mom after yelling at my kids for their actions because it's the only way they'll listen!

Curt sings an impromptu song accompanied by his swift guitar skills (hehehehe) to explain these outbursts and family quirks... it's quite hilarious if you've been lucky enough to witness it.

So we threaten our children. We threaten them into submission.

Sometimes, it's the only thing that works. And they've learned that these are NOT idle threats.

(for the older ones, that is... the younger ones are just perfect as can be & we're hoping... really we're praying they don't end up demented and overly influenced by the negative behavior of these pre-teens and that we're better parents having learned our lessons with the first three. We can hope, can't we? hahaha)

We thought the first would be Monson or McKenzie. We were certain. I guess we're all human because Brayden was first to earn a night in the garage for repeatedly antagonizing Lexie.

He earned himself a night sleeping in the garage. It's cold for Cali standards so it was no party. And I'm certain that there's a couple of rat families nesting out there not to mention spiders of all shapes and sizes. But he had a good attitude... he knew he deserved what came to him and that ultimately he choose his punishment because of his actions. The kids know that if they show disrespect, if they are the cause of great contention in our home that they have chosen to spend a night in the garage to think about what it means to be a member of this family and how they can change their behavior to contribute positively in our home. It's our way of showing forth love in an effort to maintain some order.

Really, it's done out of love.

At 1 am we felt Bray had paid his price and had sufficient time to think, so we allowed him to come inside (mostly because he had a good attitude about it).

So in this season of gratitude... this time to reflect upon our blessings, I'm thankful that we all have the power to change and to become better people. Heaven knows I have a ton to work on as a parent. I'm just glad I'm not the one that has to sleep in the garage.

Truly, we do have good kids. But if we let these behaviors continue, we'd be terrible parents. And we've started getting all the kids in bed by 8... WORLD of difference.

Sleep is lovely on so many levels!