Punishment

I've had a lot of sass from Bugs lately. And I was at my wit's end and that's the truth. Even The Marshmallow was sick of dealing with it and he can tolerate a lot more than I can. He sort of thinks it's funny and so then I want to rip both of their throats out.

And there are other "habits" that Bugs has gotten into that I just really wanted to nip in the bud but couldn't quite make a big deal about each on their very own. Like wiping out the sink after she spits out toothpaste. When she doesn't, I just couldn't bring myself to punish her but was getting absolutely exhausted of reminding her of things like that: turn out your light, close the door when you go in/out, don't leave the stair gate open when Tinkerpot is awake blah blah. Just a few things.

And so I took proactive measures that were supposedly designed to end all of the bad stuff. Haha, I'm such a smartie mom. *gag*

I made a chart. I'm a chart whore. It's got 20 boxes for frownie faces. Each time an undesired behavior occurred, I'd put a frownie face up there. She was aware of the consequence but knew she needed 20 in order for it to occur. After a couple of weeks, she filled up the boxes and today had to pay the piper.

She's been working since she got home from school. No playing...she's on my clock. And I have a few observations that I think are interesting:

1) she doesn't seem to mind doing all of the chores (crap)
2) I think I've underestimated what this kid is capable of so it's good to see what she can/can't do with respect to working around the house - no longer will she be able to get away with telling me she can't.
3) I'm doing more work than she is to prep so she can do some work
4) I'm getting a lot done!
5) This is more punishment for me than for her
6) It's been a really good time for me to train her how to do certain chores correctly. She's mopped the floor (did good job!), emptied trashcans and put bags in them, wiped baseboards, wiped cupboard doors... and now next time I can just tell her I want something done and know she theoretically knows how to do it.
7) This is more punishment for me than for her...

Not loving "work day". I'll be glad when it's done. What remains to be seen is if it is good enough incentive for her to quit sassing me and remembering to do a few little incidentals. I still have hope I can make it suck bad enough. Just give me a few more hours. It's only 3pm.