We had plans this weekend....making ornaments with some friends and lots of glitter.
Most of us had a great time.
It may take a very long time before the house is glitter free.
Anthony went with John to a gun show, leaving all the girls at home to play.
Unfortunately two girls didn't get to play.
We have been dealing with early morning rising combined with early morning waking of everyone in the house. We have been dealing with this for over a year now. We have told the girls that if they get up and it is still dark that should be a clue to go back to sleep....or to read quietly. We tried turn the TV on and watch some TV. Play quietly. Play Nintendo DS.
Nothing has helped.
We have Larissa in our bedroom because they would wake her and she really needed her sleep, her seizures seem to effect her sleep.
Now Tasha has gotten home to voice her complaint of their loudness.
What I find interesting is that they get up earlier on the weekends then they do for school. I wake them at 6:30 on school days.
They will laugh at the teens when they ask them to quiet down. Disrespect towards the teens has gotten very bad lately.
So, three weeks ago we started a new strategy. If you wake everyone before 7 am then you will lose any privileges in the house and will not be able to participate in fun activities.
The first weekend they lost their Wii time.
The second weekend they did well and played quietly (so I know it is possible).
However, this weekend they had played a lot of Wii and weren't so concerned with losing it so....back to square one. However, they didn't realize that I had invited some friends over to make ornaments.
They lost out.
It was actually very hard for me because I wanted them to be able to make ornaments. Sometimes consequences are just as hard for us as it is for them. I like for my kids to have the opportunity to play with glitter. However, even more so is I want for them to learn to respect the others in the house. Until they do so, they will miss out.
Not sure what it is yet, but next weekend there will be another opportunity to participate in a family activity....or not.
The choice will be theirs.
It is hard. Kaleb has been horrible about lying, stealing, inappropriate touching, shouting out in class and special classes etc for the past 2 or 3 weeks so he's missed out on a lot. But I tell him that if he shows me he can't have appropriate behavior, then I cannot trust him in public so he will stay home with whoever else is staying home. That also gives the others a break from dealing with it for a while.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that asking them to let others sleep should be all that difficult. You've given them a lot of options to choose from. Bet they'll think twice after missing out on the crafts.
I'm right there with you this weekend. My littlest missed out on going to SeaWorld with the family this weekend. It was hard to drive away and leave her with a sitter. But I think we got through to her.
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