Grounding

I got (irrationally) mad at my children Friday night. I found a toothpaste-coated pink q-tip on the stairs. Nobody would admit to creating or placing it there (Travis later pointed out it may have been dropped by the cat), but all four girls had walked past it on their way to bed, a few of them twice!

I lost it (I am not proud to say). And, in my moment of uncontrolled irrational fury, I grounded them from electronics for the rest of the week (no tablets, no computer except for required school, no TV!). Then, because their shocked non-response was not enough, I shouted, "And no reading! Go, and bring me all your books!!"

The look of horror (on all our faces), was probably sadistically priceless. The tears and fears as the girls deposited their readin material was intense. I then, regaining some of my control and therefore ability to think, set the rules for how they could earn heir books back: Saturday chores (including their rooms) had to be finished before 9 am the next morning.

For the next thrifty minutes before "lights out", I heard their voices encouraging and supporting each other to get as much if their room clean as hey could, promised to wake each other up early (on a Saturday!) so they could get everything done. 

I felt guilty. I had waaaaay overreacted, and then dropped a bomb even more out of proportion to their offense. And yet, I saw these amazing young girls band together, supportive of each oher, and accomplish their tasks well and timely. By 7:00 nearly all their chores were done (Zoë's alarm went off at 6:15, but I think some of them were up before 6). There were a few reminders, a couple of spot she is, some re-education on how to perform a certainly cleaning chore. The girls were DONE, long before the cuckoo called out 9 times.

Then, there were the plaintive cries for restoration of electronic use. But, I held firm. I didn't even discuss if there could be a way to earn the privilege back. I nearly caved when I was flustered with all I needed to get done for my birthday party, but held fast, and then made some recommendations: craw, paint, play with dolls, Legos, Etc. The next thing I know, the younger three girls brought up the duplo table, the Polly pockets, and created an entire storyline/game. (Zoë was working on homework and then read all day). They played all day like that!

And, although I relaxed a little about the total ban (we all played Just Dance on Wii for exercise- 20° and snowy and low wet fog/cloudy doesn't make for much fun to be outside playing), the girls found other ways to entertain themselves. 

Even so much that before school this morning they continued their play:

And set up desks with worksheets for their American Girl Dolls. Love how they use their imaginations! Especially love it when it is cooperative (not competitive or contentious) play! Hmmmm, maybe we need to toss out the electronics (as I have already spent an hour this morning reading scriptures, two novels, made a to-do list for the day and thumb-tyoed this post). But, probably not. Although, one evening at dinner I talked about how Travis and I had decided to get rid of all electronics in the house: TV, tablets, iPods, and particularly the Internet. The older girls couldn't figure out if I was joking or not. Nica started to get tears in her eyes! I immediately squashed my "joke" and teasing. 

Could I live without the internet/electronics? Absolutely! It would be super inconvenient and really difficult and frustrating- especially for people trying to contact me (especially if I included my "dumb" cell phone in with electronics). And I would be sad to lose the ability to carry many books with me at once, check my email multiple times, read the news or check the weather whenever I wanted, and have to keep the light on if I stayed up reading later than Travis was awake. But, I could do it. Maybe I will, just to see if I can...