Broken Toys, Broken Hearts, and Better Parenting

You try and try to teach them, tell them, remind them, encourage them over and over again, hoping that it will eventually, inevitably sink in..."control your temper" and "respect your things".  But sometimes kids just insist on learning the hard way.

Not only is there now a new broken toy in the house, but a broken heart as well, as a result of both the toy and the new rule in this house as of now.  Mommy and Daddy are not buying any more toys...and we will not be encouraging others to buy any more toys either unless and until there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the children have learned their lesson and the importance of controlling one's temper and respecting their things.

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Poor Mike Wazowski. 
He wasn't doing anything wrong.  He didn't ask for this kind of treatment but nonetheless, he was enlisted in a battle between brothers and lost both his legs.  This, of course, resulted in much weeping and gnashing of teeth over the incident.  That's what happens when you send a Disney Infinity character flying across the room.  It breaks.  Kind of like when you leave your board game on the floor and it eventually gets stepped on.  Or crayons.  Or legos.  Or anything else.  Stepped on.  In most cases, broken.

You've seen the tub.  You know, the "Uh-oh" tub that contains all the toys that were left out of place that children have to work chores to win back?  That will be the next step if this offense continues.  I just hope I can find a tub big enough.  Hopefully, our children have learned their lesson and that won't be an issue at all but goodness gracious me oh my oh do my children surprise me with how stubborn they can be!  They are precious, adorable, the sweetest and most loving kids you are likely to ever meet so how on this beautiful green earth could they be so stubborn and bull-headed?  (I blame their Daddy, although he would tell you that he still has all of his temper so they couldn't have gotten it from him...in which case, I willingly take the blame since I obviously don't have any temper left in me at all. ;))  Please tell me I'm not the only parent out there scratching my head and pulling my hair out over children who go from innocent, angelic, and obedient little dears to behaving like a pack of wild boars in a matter of seconds, ignoring instruction, seemingly incapable of reacting with even a molecule of reason and decorum.  Is it bad parenting or are they just psychotic?  Is this my punishment for past sins?

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We believe in natural consequences around here.  Break a toy?  The consequence is they no longer have that toy (since it's now broken) and WE will certainly NOT be replacing it.  If that's not enough incentive to learn from their mistake, we'll start taking away unbroken toys that are left carelessly about.  In fact, we've taken legos away several times (in addition to other toys).  Those of you with kids who love legos know what a pain (literally!) those little boogers can be.  Santa gave our oldest the Lego Chima Cragger's Command Ship for Christmas.  Yeah, it has 609 pieces...and that's in addition to the hundreds of lego pieces he already had.  What was Santa thinking?!  I'll tell you what he was thinking.  He was thinking he loves our son, that's what he was thinking...and that our son has an amazing talent when it comes to building with legos (truly!) and Santa wanted to further encourage that skill.  Remind me to have a talk with that guy next year. ;)

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Soooo, the proverb says, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it."  Does that mean we have to wait for him to get old first before he does "not depart from it"?  That's how I'm feeling today.  Ask me again tomorrow when all our crayons and action figures are still intact and by some miracle I've managed not to step on a half a dozen legos in my bare feet and my children are once again their angelic selves playing so sweetly together and you may get a different answer. 

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I think our upcoming study of the Great Depression couldn't come at a more perfect time.  It is the perfect opportunity to attempt to squelch some of these spoiled tendencies (both theirs and ours) and to instill in our children once again an appreciation and understanding of just how good they've got it...and how to keep it that way...or better!  Perhaps if you are having similar troubles at home, educating your child/ren about this time in our nation's history will help.  Let me know your results if you attempt such an experiment.  We're certainly going to give it a try. 

Parenting is not for the weak!  For those of you without children, I encourage you to take this test to see if you are ready for the challenge.  It appears to me to be remarkably accurate. 

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The result: none of us are ever ready to parent!  Some of us knew we weren't from the get-go.  Some of us may think we are.  But as some have already learned, they will prove us all wrong!  The good news?  If we keep trying, we get better, do better, are better.  For those of you (like me) without a stubborn streak (wink, wink), it will only take 10 or 12 or 20 or 100 times of making the same mistakes.  For the rest of you who are so blessed with the gift of stubbornness (like my adorable husband ;)), well...you may actually get it on the first try.  Ha!  Who am I kidding?  We're all doomed!  Enjoy parenthood!

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