My children are currently grounded......

I have noticed that some people only talk about how wonderful their darling dears are.  I myself choose to prescribe to reality.  I'm not perfect, my kids are not perfect, and we all make mistakes like real people.  My imperfect children are currently grounded for the week, mostly for lying, but it all started with the 4 Nutragrain breakfast bars I found unwrapped and stuffed behind the cereal boxes.  You would think these kids were being forced to eat breakfast bars.  I was so glad they were not home when I found them because this hiding food, wastefulness, and sneaky behavior really drives me nuts and I was shaking mad.  I kind of wanted to drive right over to my parents and order them into the car and scream at them the whole way home!  Instead, I went to the grocery story feeling livid, "see if I buy those brats a single snack again!" By the time I got home and showed Jamie I was semi-calm again and by the time the kids got home, I felt certain I was no longer resembling a raging Medusa. I approached them by telling them I couldn't figure out what to buy for their breakfast from the store and asked them to write down what they had eaten for breakfast all week and what they would like in the future.  After this we discussed why its important not to be wasteful.  Then I sent one on a task while I asked the other to look in the cabinet behind the cereal. Funny, they both had a very exaggerated surprised look on their face when I showed them the evidence. "Oh mom, that was not me, I would never do that!" Please, I wasn't born yesterday children. Well, they held out until the morning and then fessed up, expecting no punishment. Ha, lying is bad children, much worse than wasting a few breakfast bars.  Guess what, they were disappointed that they have still lost privileges for the week, but they know the deal and have taken it like champs. They are really good kids because we hold them responsible for their actions and provide real consequences that they care about.  I am certain they will still make poor choices at times and even be down right naughty once and a while, but they are after all, not perfect. Perfection is overrated and boring anyway.

First day of school

This morning as I sent my kids off to their first day of school I thought about how I was laying awake thinking of writing again last night.  I think I write whole chapters of my life laying awake some nights.  Well, this morning I fired up the computer with 15 minutes to spare before I had to head to work and shared my thoughts with all my 343 Facebook friends.  I shared how I still feel like I'm sending my soon to be 13 year old 8th grader to his first day of kindergarten all over again every year.  As any parent with a child who has special needs knows, you can only prepare them so much and then hope for the best.  There isn't a whole lot of time to talk with the teachers ahead of time, especially when they have a different teacher for every class. I shared my fears and wishes and sent them out into my own personal cyber world and the response was instant and powerful.  I have been trying to get motivated to start this Blog for so long now and so I don't know if I've found the right title yet, but here's to all of my wonderful friends who gave such heartfelt feedback to me this morning!