The best and the worst part of my week happened at 4:30 on Thursday afternoon. I was starting dinner and Elise and Eliot were upstairs screaming at each other. I'd had enough...they had "poked the bear" one too many times. What followed is something not to be shared in a public forum. However, I will share the outcome. Two kids were grounded from TV, computer games and the internet for a week. Adrienne happened to walk in on the end of it, and since she has not been innocent in the last few weeks of my torture, she also has consequences and is on probation. That was the worst part of the day. I had to be the evil parent...the one to set boundaries that are hard not only for them, but for me as well... the one that has to enforce the punishment...
But later that evening, and even more in the following days, I got to see the best part of my week. I got to see a change in how my kids talked to each other. I got to see all three of my children, sit down and play a game together. I got to see Eliot's sense of humor as he tried to make Elise laugh at his jokes. I got to hear Elise compliment her brother. I got to see Eliot get a book (yes, a real book from the library!) and sit down and spend time reading. I saw rooms being cleaned, I heard things like "Mom, is there anything I can do to help you?", and there have been no questions about the rules. They all knew things were getting out of control and they were waiting for someone to step in and say, this is not OK. They needed me to be that enforcer.
It is Sunday afternoon and I am enjoying my quiet house with no stomping and no yelling. We're not perfect, and they still occasionally annoy each other, but I can stand to be around them and I think they even like being around each other.
No comments:
Post a Comment