3 more 'sleeps' till Valemount! (June 24 2008)

Three more "sleeps" till family vacation. I am very excited, but not for the obvious reason. You see, we've been doing the countdown since 100 "sleeps". Which is great, as it gets the kids excited and something to look forward to, not to mention it help them with math. I'm excited because when we get there, I won't have to listen to it five plus times a day. Sure, 5 times a day may not sound like a lot, but go ahead. Figure it out times 100 days! A minimum of 500 times in the past 100 days I've heard ___(insert number) of sleeps till Valemount! MINIMUM. Why did I start this? Sometimes I get lucky. Sometimes the kids space it out for me, so I only here it once every 3 hours. Other times I listen to 5 children repeating themselves over and over and over in a 5 minute window. The more they talk about it, the more I want to tell them they're not going. Unless I can put a wool sock in their mouth.

I've done that before. No no no, not the wool sock thing. I've told the kids at one point or another they can't have something they want or have been looking forward to. Not to be mean, but as a punishment. Which I SUCK at. For example, if I was planning on giving dessert after dinner (which is RARE) and a child has been particularly naughty, I'll tell him he can't have dessert that night if he continues. Of course they DO continue as they KNOW I'll give it to them either after the other guys had some, or I'll tuck some away for the next day.

This has (obviously) backfired on me, so I had to come up with something new. I lie. Yup. You heard me. I lie to the little buggers . If 2 or more of the kids have been misbehaving to the point where they don't care about timeouts or the rare spankings I may hand out, I hit em where it hurts...their tummys. NO. I don't hit them in the tummy. I'll say loud enough for ALL the kids to hear, "Well, I WAS going to buy ice cream tonight, but since you all can't get along/listen to me, I guess NO ONE will get any." Then I let out this loud, long disappointed sigh. Of course, I had zero intention of actually getting ice cream, but they don't know that.

Is that wrong to "punish" the better behaved kids? *shrugs shoulders* I don't know. It may not be "conventional', but it's been working for me. Instead of me having to be after them all the time, they now hold each other accountable. I hear woes and cries coming from the next room, and instead of someone running out and tattling, I hear this; "No! Don't do that to __ (insert child's name) or WE won't get a treat if she's planning on a treat today." Oh yeah baby. The tattling has been cut in half! In. Half. Half of 36874320 times a day is pretty significant. Now if only I could use that wool sock for the other 18437160 times, I'd have it made!!