Occasionally, behavior is so egregious it must be addressed. Running around the Post Office making a general ass out of yourself after your father has asked to you stop numerous times is to be expected from an eight year old who has been cooped up all day and ignored far too long by the adults in his life. The reasoning, if you can call it that, which runs through Boy Wonder’s brain is very similar to 2nd strike criminals who figure, “Hey, if I get caught I’m going to do TIME, so I might as well make this good!” Basically, he figures he has nothing to lose. He would be wrong.
But, flaunting your behavior in your father’s face once you leave the Post Office, declaring that you knew you had been asked to stop and then shrugging off your behavior in a “What are you going to do about it” smirk is enough to send your father’s blood pressure to the ceiling.
Warning, warning, Boy Wonder… RUN!
We could let the obnoxious behavior slide–the belief that you can get away with anything,
is another matter all together! But what to do? No way, in the middle of the move, am I going to take away the things keeping us all sane. I’m way smarter than that! Parenting experts may suggest creating boredom–but I’m met my child “bored” and I haven’t the stamina. I’ll admit it.
Boredom is how all my china ended up “decorated” with markers. Boredom is how marbles got glued into the pen cubbies on his art desk. Boredom is how the bathroom door ended locked with the bathtub quickly filling with running water. Boy Wonder has expressed an interest in chemistry as of late. NO WAY IN HELL am I going to let this kid get to the bored state right now. No, no, no, no, no.
In college, I attended classes with this girl whose parents were GODS in the discipline department. When Tanya was caught lying for the umpteenth time, her parents hauled out a Bible, a pad of paper, and a concordance and said, “Look up every verse on lying in the Bible and print them all
out.” Genius.
For those of you who might not know, the Bible has a lot to say about lying! It turns out, the key to great discipline is multi-tasking. If you can prove more than one point, accomplish more than one item on your parenting agenda, all the better. In Tanya’s case, her parent’s had managed to work on her penmanship, her researching skills, beef up her knowledge of the Bible, and the best part make Tanya completely miserable. More importantly, they made their point. Something countless talks and restrictions had not accomplished.
So, we decided to take a page out of Tanya’s parent’s play book. I like the Bible too much to make a kid copy sentences. Besides, I had already packed the concordance and he is only eight. Instead, he was sentenced to writing out “I will be respectful and obey” 20 times. You see, there is nothing Boy Wonder hates more than penmanship practice. Jack pot! All his bravado melted away. It took him well over an hour to get the job done because he insisted on playing the drama card. Tears and wailing ensued. He lamented his fate, “I’m under such pressure!” I’m not sure which word set him off, “respectful” or “obey,” either way, he seemed perfectly miserable. Which was the goal.
For the record, this does not make me a meanie. I would be a bad parent if I let his disrespect for his father slip by due to the move. I would be a bad parent if I encouraged his disobedience by
ignoring it. It’s never easy listening to your child be miserable. Thirty minutes into it, I wanted to give him a reprieve. But, behavior has consequences. Or it should. And facing the consequences of your own behavior is a lesson we all must learn. Typically, over and over again. The sooner he figures this out, the better. Bottom line is, he had more to lose than he realized. God willing, this is the worst time he will ever be compelled to serve.
