Should I Dub Monday Grouchy Day?

Oi! Someone remind me what the joy in children is!

I woke up in the middle of the night last night to run to the lou and do you know what I found?

Three children huddled around my laptop playing on the internet.

"What time is it?" I mumbled incoherently.

Silence.

This, of course, woke me up. "What time is it guys?" I said in my mother voice.

A quiet, "4:23."

"Get back in your rooms right now."

Two boys scampered off. One little girl resisted.

"Vicbowin." I warned, "1.... 2....." I walked over to her and slammed the computer shut. She scampered, wailing at the injustice.

I threatened bodily injury if she woke the baby or touched my computer again without permission. Then crawled back in bed.

A little while later Ralexwin gets up to go to the lou and repeat the process. Except with alot more excuses.

"I forgot she told me not to touch the computer!"

"I didn't realize it was only 5:00AM."

"It's not fair!!!!!"

Three, maybe four times, we did this with them.

I'm ready to chuck all modern technology out the window and set the kids to scrubbing grout. Except I don't have any grout.

So what are the options for a mom who wants to severely punish her kids for something they did 4 hours ago?

I guess I could be grouchy all day and then when they want to know why, point out the marvelous morning they bestowed upon me.

Yes, I think that sounds quite vengeful.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm laughing and at the same time sooooooooo happy it's not my kids. It's always easier to see the humor when other people's children misbehave.
However I would also be furious if they were mine.
I think that our punishment would be no media entertainment for a looooong time.
Jennifer said…
Yeah, Ivy's solution is the one I'd use, too. No computer time. At all. For possibly months. And every time there was whining I would calmly (hopefully calmly, more likely with extreme irritation) give them yet another lecture about trust, and privileges, and the consequences of losing trust, following up with several statements about the difficulties of regaining trust once lost. And every night I would lock the computer away out of reach of small hands.

MONTHS. Seriously. There would have to be extreme groveling and many, many efforts of great energy to prove their trustworthiness. Because as much of a pain as it would be, I would rather nip the sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night when it is only computer use that is happening and not sneaking out of the house to meet boyfriends or girlfriends.
Michelle H said…
Oh, we've all been there! My toddler came in running in this morning at 3:30 screaming, "Dad, it's not Sunday anymore. We can play video games!!!" He won and my husband was playing video games long before the sun came up!
Cannwin said…
@Michelle

I know your pain! How is it that when it's the husband dealing with it the kids always end up with twice as much screen time?

Not to say I'm not completely lax, but still... I can blame my husband can't I?
Claire said…
Dude. Password lock that puppy or take the power cords/modem to bed with you! And yes, you should be a grump all day. Cyrus thought it was party time for a few hours last night. I'm still ticked off about it.
Lisa said…
Glad my kids haven't reached that stage yet! Hope your punishment did the trick!
Cari Hislop said…
I agree with Jen, but like another poster said, I'd password the whole computer...and lock the thing away, just to ensure they don't sit up all night trying to crack your password.
Getting up in the night suggests they're getting addicted. That's not good! There have been some interesting studies done about how extended computer use rewires people's brains making it harder to concentrate etc. Children are even more susceptible. It sounds like lock down time to me!

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