Being Accountable!

One of the hardest things about being a parent is having to disipline your children. Not only do you need to find a punishment fitting to the crime you also need to be more and more creative each time so they don't get the desire to keep commiting the same crimes.

Well my son was caught with the evidence in hand ( or mouth as the case may be ). My hubby is a HUGE computer geek. He likes to play a game on the computer called Battlefield ( purchased by my mom Thanks alot ) and he has gotten quite involved with it. He has a set of headphones with a microphone attached so that when he is online he can chat with the other nerds while they play. Well my son has taken to wearing the headphones while he play's his games on the computer. This is ok with us but it turn's out he has also taken to chewing on the microphone. No he was not raised by dogs but he has inherited a nasty habit from his mom. Yes I to am a chewer. Well in any such case he has now broken and fryed the microphone and to say the least his dad was not very pleased. I'm very proud of my hubby though he stayed calm and didn't yell, spank or any other of the usual reactions most parents have when they find something valuable broken. He had a good chat with our boy and asked me if I would help come up with an appropriate punishment. Well after much pondering here's what I came up with....

As of right now he is responsible for paying back his dad the money used for purchsing the headphones. He will do 3 additional chores to his regular load and when each said chore is done I will give him $1.00, until he has $50.00 saved. That money will then go to replacing his dads toy.

He must do the following chores that are usually his dads responsiblity's each and everyday...
1: Clean out the cat litter everyday.
2: Do the dinner dishes with Sally (our little tenant) every night.
3: Clean the two living rooms every night before bed.

To a 5 year old it's a mountain of chores, especially when he still has to feed the cat's twice a day, clean his room everyday, and help set the table each night for dinner. Call me cruel but hey for the most part he's a pretty great kid. I think I'm doing all right with this one. If only I could find the manual for his sister. I'm not a perfect mom but I'm doing the best the kind and if you ever meet all my dayhome kids you hopefully would agree I'm not bad. Yes I'm a little arrogant but hey you spend as much time with this many little people and you would toot your own horn once in awhile as well.

Happy parenting!