I thought this was supposed to be "No Meltdown Monday"?

[gcvmom]

Or do Mom's meltdowns not count?

I am NOT having fun today. I am NOT enjoying the antics of the difficult child's or the easy child/difficult child. I am NOT modeling calm, coherent behavior anymore.

How is it that in the space of one hour at a tire shop they can all manage to have me seeing red? I feel completely outnumbered! It's like trying to organize a bunch of flys. Or herding cats. Or trying to have a conversation with fish.

I decided that their punishments are a laundry list of chores, most of which I end up having to supervise because they are either making more of a mess than existed before, or they are simply not attending to the task at hand.

I KNOW why alcoholism runs in BiPolar (BP) families... it's because the behavior of the BiPolar (BP) kids DRIVES you to drink!!!

 

[gcvmom]

Well it seems that 90 minutes of chores (washing the van in the driveway, cleaning its windows inside and out, clearing out all the trash, toys and clothes from it, hosing down the patio, and pulling up old landscape lights from the yard for husband) was just the ticket for their attitude adjustment (although remedicating difficult child 1 since his morning dose had worn off did have a big impact, and easy child had herself a little cry which seemed to clear her head).

They are all three sitting on the LR floor playing a trading card game together... NICELY. Quick, where's my camera?!

 

[KTMom91]

I'm so sorry the tire shop was a disaster...but your description was priceless! Glad to know they settled down after they got some work done.

 

[amazeofgrace]

it would seem both my difficult child's missed that memo!!!!

 

[Wiped Out]

Argh! I can understand why you would feel the need for a drink! Glad to hear they are getting along nicely now.

 

[klmno]

Kudos to you! Any person that can keep their head through that and still have a sense of humor right afterwards deserves some award in my book. Congratulations on a job well done!!

(I'll contact you the next time I am dazed and confused. )

 

[timer lady]

Wow, after all the "excitement" you got your kids to do chores. It takes me, at the very least, an hour to calm kt down before I can even discuss consequences. I'm impressed.

I agree ~ your description was priceless.

 

[gcvmom]

Oh, wait a minute KLMNO -- I never said ANYTHING about keeping my head! I lost it on NUMEROUS occasions yesterday!

And yes, Linda, if I scream loud enough, I find even the most oppositional difficult child will bow to my will. I don't like that part about myself. I am much, much, MUCH better than I used to be, though.

I wish I'd handled things differently yesterday. I was very much in Plan/Basket "A" mode... but then, the difficult child's were not oppositional or explosive, just annoying and bugging the crud out of eachother AND me. Thus my meltdown.

So no, I didn't have to calm any kids down -- I had to calm myself down! But they were all pretty cooperative for a few hours after experiencing the Wrath of Mom.

husband put a TV in each difficult child's bedroom last weekend as a strategy to isolate them when things get out of control, like they frequently have this summer. I have to say his plan worked pretty well last night. And they all went to bed without much hassle! As much as I'm against having them holed up in their rooms with a TV, it was really, really nice to have a fairly quiet evening for a change.

 

[nvts]

Pssssst! Putting a tv in each room gives you power. Everytime they tick you off, you can take it away!

Mooooohahaha!