UGH!!!
Little boys are MONSTERS! These hooligans are driving me NUTS!!! My house is a disaster this last week because I seriously can't keep up with all the chaos and messes!
Cameron is pulling everything in sight off of shelves and out of toy boxes. NOTHING stays put away with that kid! He just moves from cupboard, to shelf, to toy box, to cupboard, to drawer, etc. etc. This little dude is a tornado and nothing stays in its place once he crosses it's path!!! I think he's my most energetic and 'exploring' 1 year old yet!!!
Zackery and Kadan..... *shudder*..... it's a good thing they are sleeping so I can unleash my fury on my blog. OH MY HECK!!! I'm about ready for military school and they are only 6 and almost-4!!! I don't know what's gotten into them lately! Zack's always been one for mischief. Kadan's always been a handful when it comes to power struggles, but he really didn't start in on mess making til Zack started to get older and Kadan joined in.
I have marker on my walls. Holes in my couch. Things being thrown. Things broken. Brownies snuck from the cupboard and eaten (ALL OF THEM) in the wee hours of early morning. and little boys PEEing everywhere!!!!!!!!!
We've really been trying to come up with more 'creative' punishments. For example... for the holes that were poked in the couch with scissors, we talked about how it is NOT fun to have your things ruined. The couch was important to mommy, and now its ruined (okay... its far from completely ruined, but I was till DANG pissed about my 3 month old couch!!!!!). So I took his 2 coupons for kids meals at restaurants that he got from school that he was really excited about using. And I cut them up. In front of him. He ran up to his room crying and I was nearly in tears myself (after he left the room of course, when he couldn't see). And at that point I wasn't even so upset about the couch as I was having to cut up his stuff. I HATE having to do it. But I knew it was necessary for him to learn.
Example two... the kids pee-ed on their mattress. In the middle of the day. WHY?!?!?! I don't know!!!! Ask the monsters who are masquerading as the children I love. What the heck would possess someone to think it was funny/cool/whatever to PEE on their bed. on purpose. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't find a girl doing that. Peeing isn't 'cool' to girls. It's just a fact of life. To boys (or at least to crazy boys like mine...) peeing is like this super cool squirt gun weapon with infinite possibilities. Possibilities like seeing if you can make it shoot clear into the toilet from across the bathroom (about 5 feet away... which, fyi, they could NOT make it).
UGH. So the mattress is removed from their bed. It isn't salvagable. they have another mattress on the top bunk. But it's staying their for a bit. They're sleeping on the wooden plank that supports the mattress. I'm sure its not comfortable. And the moral of the story is... if you PEE on your mattress... you do not get to sleep on it.
Geez. I have no idea what to do about this parenting stuff. How do you know if you've come up with the right punishment? That it's enough? Or too much? Or relevant enough that the kids learn something from it? Every kid has such a different personality. How do you know what to do?? It's such a hit and miss thing. Yesterday I made Kadan write "I will not lie" over and over on a piece of paper. Will it help? I don't know. But I don't know anything else that will help for sure.
The best tool I have at my disposal? Preventative measures. If my children are busily engaged in activities... they wont have time to get bored and come up with the idiotically bad choices they've been making lately for 'entertainment'. I'm not a fan of scheduling my kids days away... but I'm trying to get them out of the house as much as possible. Playground, free summer lunches at the park (offered by school district), storytimes and crafts and activities at library, family bike rides, swimming, reading books and playing games with them at home, and they're both starting baseball next week... Please. oh, PLEASE... I just pray I have the ability to keep them engaged in GOOD activities enough that they stay out of mischief.
I love my children. But I am EXHAUSTED from the last couple weeks!!!!!
You never really know if you are making the right parenting choices. I remember feeling the same feelings that you are describing. Trust your instinct, you are a wonderful mother and you are doing a great job.
ReplyDeleteI felt so many times that I was so inadequate as a parent and I felt defeated on many occasions and look how wonderful my children turned out!
I love you, trust in yourself and take a long hot bath on these nights, you deserve it!
Love Mommy
Hang in there Kari! I understand to an extent. I have (almost) three girls, and it is just as hard. Like my girls think that it is funny to slam each other's heads and fingers in doors. They also color on my walls, chairs, couches and everything else in permanent marker. If I leave a project out, even if it is just to go get a drink of water, they manage to find sissors or something to completely distroy the work that I had just completed. Don't know if that makes you feel any better, but parenting is HARD! Keep going, there are always really good days and really bad days. Hope that you kids can give you a really good day to make up for it.=)
ReplyDeleteOH my HECK! I can't believe they cut up your new ccoouucchh!!! You are an incredibly patient, loving, creative, and wonderful mommy. GOOD LUCK is all I have to say - I am too astounded at the mayhem and overflowing household shenanigans to comment any further. hahaha
ReplyDeleteThis post made me smile. It made me realize that we are all in the same boat. I have so had weeks like this, were I am so DONE with my kids. Were they are so bad and do so many things that make you just sit and wonder "why". I have had paint on our cars and new easter dresses (paint for the walls in the house mind you, does NOT come out!) I have had lipstick all over the walls (very greasy). Cutting their own hair experiments. Sugar all over the kitchen, minute rice filling the fish bowl (fish amazingly survived that one). Cream of Wheat dumped on the floor in the kitchen. Nail polish on our carpet, bedspreads, kitchen table, walls, clothes, etc. Anyway, just know we are all learning and going through this parenting gig and while your boys are putting holes in your couch, my girls are probably covering our walls in lipstick or something equally fun. Keep it up, your an awesome mom!
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