Family Meeting

Sunday night I called a "family meeting". Just to gain a perspective, we have had 2 family meetings in 2010 that I can recall. Not a big practice around here. But Sunday night it had to be done. The topic: physical violence against family members. I am not joking. That was the topic.

Latley at our house the kids have taken to hitting, pushing, flicking, pinching and even what I would call "slugging". It is not pretty. And it's not just one ... it's all 3. I can assure you they did not learn this from their Mother!

We don't have a lot of rules around here. I figure that God only gave us 10 commandments ... so who am I to have a monster long list of "do nots". We try to major on the majors. My biggies are "no lying", "be respectful" & "be kind to others". If these rules are broken the consequences are usually pretty severe. I think it's fair to say that "acts of physical violence" against your brothers and sister would count as a "broken rule".

So, we gathered the kids and explained the problem. They agreed that there has been too much pushing, hitting, ect between them. They agreed with the discipline that was going to happen if it continues. They had a few questions though ...

"What if someone screams in my ear? Can I hit him then??" NO!

"What if someone pinches me? Can I kick her back?" NO!

"What if I see a slug bug and am playing the slug bug game and I slug someone?" uhhhh ... Paul? You wanna take this one?

"What if I do a "physical violence" but it was an accident?" Will I get disciplined then?" YES!

"What if he calls me annoying? That's not very nice. Can I scream in his ear?" NO!

Thankfully we haven't had to enforce the discipline yet. I'm hopeful yet also realize it IS only Tuesday.

Fall and other stuff

So sorry to all the bloggers out there. I have been delinquent. When my kids were small(er) Moms of older kids would tell me the busyness I was feeling was just the tip of the iceburg. I used to think when my kids were in school full time, then I would have more time to pursue stuff I enjoyed. What I didn't realize, was that while certain hours of the day would be "less busy", life as a whole gets more and more and more complicated. There are much bigger, more pressing demands for my time, my energy, my attention, my mind, my car, my money...you get the point. And, not only do I have 2 active "school aged kids" I also have a preschooler I spend hours and hours with during my "less busy" hours. Ha! All that to say, among other things, my blog hasn't been first priority lately.

It's been a fun fall around here. I'll attach a couple of pics to show you what I mean. And I promise another update real soon.