The Manifesto

Perhaps it was the change in the weather, perhaps it was just time, but yesterday I wrote the Manifesto.  I guess this is the first blog entry about my REAL work...which is mom-ing.  So here is how it happened:

My kids are smart and clever and usually very good....which is why I don't have any skills I guess.  They drive me nuts some times.  Yesterday, as we are dragging ourselves out of the Valley of the Shadow of Virus, it was more than I could bear.  S was playing a game that is so engrossing it allows her to completely ignore everything including i, which is saying something.  Instead of saying something he decided that throwing things at her might work.  So all I hear from the other room is the continuous racket of her game + "Mom, i is throwing stuff at me!" in super-whine mode.  Then he is blocking the view then....you get the idea.  When I emerged from my office (in full bear mode) I made her pause her game (the day before when this happened I actually turned it off) and announced that it was off until the whole living room was cleaned up.  Pouty throwing things in a bin, while perhaps calculated to show Mama how irritated you are, does VERY little to win Mama's favor....and so I found myself saying the same thing for the third day in a row: You can put things away right once, or you can keep putting them away until they are put away right.

And after the third day of that I realized that she doesn't really believe me.  Things need to change.

I retreated to my office once the room was clean....and it got clean all right with a great deal of pouting...and decided that girl needs some rules!  And that boy too....and a little more humbly...and that Mama.  Sigh!

Here are the s rules:
I can put things away properly one time or I can continue to do it as many times as it takes.
I understand that my attitude determines how long things will take.

I can be kind to others while I play.  If I can not be kind while I play something, I will have to stop
playing.  I will receive 1 warning.

If my toys or games lead me to make poor choices or to be disobedient (or sassy) they will
be placed on the refrigerator or in the trash.  I will receive 1 warning.

I will do as I am asked the first time.  I do not have to like it or agree, but I can obey to show
that I know how to handle myself and my responsibilities.





And the i rules:
I will not throw toys at anyone.
I will clean up when Mama or Daddy says “Clean Up!”
I can be obedient to show I am a BIG BOY and can make choices for myself.
If I disobey with toys they go on the refrigerator or in the trash.

And the Mama rules:
I will be patient and give specific warnings, reminding each child of the consequences.

I will come the first time when I am called politely.

I will listen patiently to explanations.  I do not have to listen to excuses.

I will give hugs and kisses whenever I am asked with NO delay.

When the Manifesto was presented at Dinner s said I needed to add "I will not yell." Sigh!

So we reviewed the Manifesto at bed time and I had s read her own out loud.  I read i his and then I read mine.  I think it will work......

And at bus time this morning, before morning prayer, we did it again.  S read hers out and when I tried to read i his, he grabbed the paper and said a few things about cleaning up and the trash.  I think he gets it.  Now I need to be better.  I can be, I just know it. k.

This is a pic of today outside (since my office pic can't capture it!)  In the pot there is a tough old beet that is the only thing that survived of the Summer Garden trial......and three new potato plants that are reaching for the sun.