Skip to main content

confessed sin

ever since my kids have been old enough to eat dry cereal by themselves i've allowed them to have breakfast in front of pbs kids. i know, i know, not exactly mommy of the year here. i dread mornings and often am the last one to wake. now that my kids are older, mapboy often gets them their breakfast before i make it down the stairs.

this worked great for awhile. i could sleep and they would eat cereal and yogurt while watching educational tv!! what a deal...however, this summer i started noticing that breakfast was becoming a 4-5 course meal dragging out over an hour. i would often find spoons, bowls, yogurt cups, crumbs, and an occasional spilled juice on the couch or floor. i got tired of getting them the next course and tired of cleaning up everything. so we tried making them clean...okay that helps, but i was still serving breakfast for an hour.

i made a new rule that started on monday morning...breakfast would be eaten at the table!!! no exceptions!!! mapboy was quite devastated b/c that would mean no tv first thing in the morning. the second half of the rule was that once they left the table they were done until lunch time - no exceptions!

monday arrived with no problems. all went well. my kids ate happily and were satisfied until lunch. it was tuesday morning trouble arrived. all was well until i set their cereal on the table and went to take a shower. when i opened the bathroom door i was met with a grin from mapboy. he very proudly stated, "we ate our cereal in the family room!!" he then turned and walked away.

WHAT?!?!!?! did he just come and with great pride confess that he had not obeyed me!! i couldn't believe it. i calmly walked into the family room and asked if they had indeed had breakfast there. there was no doubt about it - they had deliberately disobeyed. i was mad, but also shocked at the willing and immediete confession. it was quite clear that mapboy wanted to see just what i would do about it. after a few minutes i decided the best punishment would be to take away tv for 24 hours. without tv the temptation would be gone....

so today - we are without tv!! at first i thought i was insane for giving that up, but it has gone quite well....we just might go without everymoring from now on!!!!

you might also be interested in knowing that i have not had another prideful confession of sin in this house. we did have a rather humble on last night from a humbled mapboy!!!

Comments

Natalie said…
that is hilarious!! have you extended the no tv rule?
July 12, 2007 at 9:35 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2021 word: rhythm

 as i began to ponder all that i had learned about myself in 2020 i found amazing places of adaptability, leadership, and change.  those are great strengths and proved to be valuable in 2020, however those same things left me feeling a bit out of sorts, unanchored.  i know my life needs to find some grounding again.  i told my husband yesterday and a friend today that i am not looking forward to 2021.  no big plans. no vacations to look forward to.  several things are already cancelled and leaving some voids at work.  but really...there is nothing like being an incredible social person and realizing 2021 has a looming sense of loneliness when my girl takes on college. with this in mind, i knew i needed to find some ways to reclaim myself; putting space into my life filled with things that bring joy and peace.  there are things i need to continue changing physically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally, yet discipline is not in my skill set.  it freaks me out.  constrains me lead
Post a Comment
Read more

me, on politics

i despise politics. i never liked it, but i married a man fascinated with it. a man who wanted to be part of it all...and was, briefly. boy were our eyes opened... anyways...it seems like this election has several hot button topics. one of which is universal healthcare. my cousin started a blog called politics for mom and there have been several heated debates going on. i was reading several comments on healthcare. and frankly i was bothered! now, i don't know that a strict universal healthcare is the answer, but i do know that we have now doesn't work for the average person. here is our story.... hubby worked in a small business - 3 employees at the most that i can remember. we paid 1/2 our insurance..until it came to the point where our half each month was twice what we would pay if we were on our own. but for the owner it saved him money. so he agreed to cover ours in full. we were very grateful. i also know at times, that because of the healthcare cost, it was a struggle f
9 comments
Read more

the word...

new year.  new decade. new word.  i started the habit of choosing a word almost exactly a decade ago.  each year the word has evolved and helped shape the year. well, this year is quite likely the exception.  or at least i thought it was.  my usual yearly reflection takes me on a journey through the year where the word has evolved into something entirely different than the road i envisioned. and usually i am in awe of how God used that word. this year was strange.  looking back on the goals i set, i see failure, not awe.  now before you go and tell me i am not a failure, i did fail at the goals i set.  truly.  goal 1:  grow and develop in a healthy way.  nope.  ending the year with extra instead of less.  attempted, yet didn't follow through on many health plans.  goal 2:  grow spiritually through meditation, scripture reading, and community.  nope.  ending the year with little reading and loss of church community that grieves me deeply. late fall i started pondering thes
Post a Comment
Read more