Last week I decided to take the kids to the "Disanor Pace" at Thanksgiving point. For those of you who don't speak "Talan" this means, The Dinosaur Place.We all piled in the car and took off for our journey. Before we had even gotten a mile from the house Bradon and Carsten started to pick, pull, poke, touch, annoy, scream, bug... almost more than my nerve endings could handle! So I began to warn, like any good mother does. "Boys! Stop it! Don't touch each other! Leave each other ALONE! ...BOYS!" And like my boys always do... they ignored me!
I needed to fill up with gas and so I pulled into the Smith's Market Place parking lot and without getting angry I pulled over, put the car in park, and told the boys to get out! They were like, "WHAT?" "You heard me, GET OUT! Get out and go stand by that light poll and think about your behavior for awhile. I'll be back for you." Bradon who has been kicked out of our car a time or two before quickly got out and stood by the poll. Carsten on the other hand began to throw a fit and cry. "NO! If I get out you wont come back for hours!"
Oh and did I mention that as we left the house I told all the kids to grab a jacket or sweatshirt yet Carsten had chosen to grab neither! Oh well, some kids just have to learn life lessons the hard way!
"Carsten get out of my car! I will not have you behaving this way in my car! Get out and think about your behavior and I'll come back for you. And Carsten, I promise I won't leave you for 2 hours. And then reluctantly, Carsten finally got out! They both stood by the light poll and we drove off.
We drove across the parking lot to the gas station and filled up with gas. Jeannine just kept looking over at me giving a silent little chuckle. All the other kids talked about what life would be like without Bradon and Carsten. "Mom, what if when we go back for them they aren't there? What if they are gone? What if a stranger picks them up?" All very good questions... WHAT IF? Jeannine just kept looking at me, shaking her head and laughing.
Once we were filled up with gas we drove back across the parking lot to pick them up and what did we see? Tweedledee and Tweedledum playing in the snow! Kicking snow back and forth at each other. Looking as unaffected by this little learning experience as possible! Are you kidding me! We drove right up to them and it took them a few seconds to even notice we were there! I SWEAR! What am I going to do with these two kids?
They climbed back into the car as if they had just come off an amusement ride. WOW! Not the reaction I was expecting or hoping for! And then Bradon says, "Mom a lady from our ward pulled over and asked if we needed a ride home." "Really, who was it?" "I don't know her name!" "So what did you say?" " I told her that you would be coming back for us. That you had dropped us off here and told us to think about our behavior." "Really, and so what did she say?" "She just started laughing! She thought it was funny! I told her that I thought you had just gone to the gas station but I wasn't so sure. She laughed and said okay. Mom she thought it was funny!" Jeannine looked at me and said, "I bet whoever it was will say something to you about it at church on Sunday!"
And sure enough she did. It was my friend Barbara Trane. She just laughed and laughed. She thought that that was so funny! She said that she must have pulled up right after I had driven away because Carsten and Bradon were both standing by the light poll looking very worried and upset by the whole thing. Well good! At least it affected them for a minute! She told me that she got a real good kick out of it! She had always threatened her kids that she was going to kick them out of the car, she just never actually did it!
We continued on to Thanksgiving point. The kids all behaved beautifully. We even went to the movies after the museum.
Good, Bad, or Ugly?
I don't know what it was! But it was what it was, and it seemed to work for me! Just one more experience to add to the "mother of the year" book I'm writing!
I needed to fill up with gas and so I pulled into the Smith's Market Place parking lot and without getting angry I pulled over, put the car in park, and told the boys to get out! They were like, "WHAT?" "You heard me, GET OUT! Get out and go stand by that light poll and think about your behavior for awhile. I'll be back for you." Bradon who has been kicked out of our car a time or two before quickly got out and stood by the poll. Carsten on the other hand began to throw a fit and cry. "NO! If I get out you wont come back for hours!"
Oh and did I mention that as we left the house I told all the kids to grab a jacket or sweatshirt yet Carsten had chosen to grab neither! Oh well, some kids just have to learn life lessons the hard way!
"Carsten get out of my car! I will not have you behaving this way in my car! Get out and think about your behavior and I'll come back for you. And Carsten, I promise I won't leave you for 2 hours. And then reluctantly, Carsten finally got out! They both stood by the light poll and we drove off.
We drove across the parking lot to the gas station and filled up with gas. Jeannine just kept looking over at me giving a silent little chuckle. All the other kids talked about what life would be like without Bradon and Carsten. "Mom, what if when we go back for them they aren't there? What if they are gone? What if a stranger picks them up?" All very good questions... WHAT IF? Jeannine just kept looking at me, shaking her head and laughing.
Once we were filled up with gas we drove back across the parking lot to pick them up and what did we see? Tweedledee and Tweedledum playing in the snow! Kicking snow back and forth at each other. Looking as unaffected by this little learning experience as possible! Are you kidding me! We drove right up to them and it took them a few seconds to even notice we were there! I SWEAR! What am I going to do with these two kids?
They climbed back into the car as if they had just come off an amusement ride. WOW! Not the reaction I was expecting or hoping for! And then Bradon says, "Mom a lady from our ward pulled over and asked if we needed a ride home." "Really, who was it?" "I don't know her name!" "So what did you say?" " I told her that you would be coming back for us. That you had dropped us off here and told us to think about our behavior." "Really, and so what did she say?" "She just started laughing! She thought it was funny! I told her that I thought you had just gone to the gas station but I wasn't so sure. She laughed and said okay. Mom she thought it was funny!" Jeannine looked at me and said, "I bet whoever it was will say something to you about it at church on Sunday!"
And sure enough she did. It was my friend Barbara Trane. She just laughed and laughed. She thought that that was so funny! She said that she must have pulled up right after I had driven away because Carsten and Bradon were both standing by the light poll looking very worried and upset by the whole thing. Well good! At least it affected them for a minute! She told me that she got a real good kick out of it! She had always threatened her kids that she was going to kick them out of the car, she just never actually did it!
We continued on to Thanksgiving point. The kids all behaved beautifully. We even went to the movies after the museum.
Good, Bad, or Ugly?I don't know what it was! But it was what it was, and it seemed to work for me! Just one more experience to add to the "mother of the year" book I'm writing!
2 comments:
I don't know if you read my blog often, but I am also working towards Mother of the Year, and I refer to it often. Nice work, Mama.
Stephanie! I *LOVE* this. I love a mom who is willing to do hard things to teach her kids proper behavior. So awesome. ;-)
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