Sorry for the short post, but I’m a bit overwhelmed at the moment: one Labor Day off from the library apparently equals three days of accumulated work—ironic, don’t you think?—and on the homefront, we’re all still recovering from Jane’s first grounding, which turned out to be more of a group event that we had originally anticipated.
Amateurs, right?
Punishment, as we reminded her several times during her Long Housebound Weekend of No Electronics And We Mean It, isn’t supposed to be fun and it wasn’t supposed to be ours,
Except at times, it sort of was, because a bored ten-year old is . . . a bored ten-year old.
And if, exasperated from being constantly interrupted in your attempts to get the &#!%ing scene in your mind down on paper so it makes sense to you, never mind an actual reader, you tell a bored ten-year old who is vacillating between remorse and defiance to find something to do that isn’t complaining that she has nothing to do . . . you had better be willing to accept the consequences and the guilt of realizing how much you depend on electronic babysitters.
So, there were a few problems, a few outbursts, a few tears, and a couple of Learning Experiences™—not all on her side.
But the playroom—her future bedroom—has been halfway prepped for repainting and repurposing.
She learned to make macaroni & cheese from scratch (thank you, Watson)
She spent several hours practicing knitting, even though it was audibly frustrating to her.*
She learned that she can take or leave television, but she really missed riding her bike and going online.**
And we all hope she learned that committing the crime isn’t worth doing the time.
Any advice for the disciplinary challenged?***
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*If space aliens ever try to invade, our first line of defense should be a projected looped recording of the noise Janie makes when the world does not bend to her will, alternated with Sunny complaining that Jane always gets to do whatever she wants to and it’s not fair. We will not need a second line of defense—though six billion earplugs might be necessary, lest friendly fire decimate our numbers.
**So noted.
***Kevin, if I get a BSDM catalog in my in-box, I’m forwarding it to your mother.
Earful of Cider 