difficult child 1 back from camp three days and he's already ticking me off...

gcvmom

Here we go again!
First of all, that danged TV needs to come OUT of his room. It's too heavy for me to move, so has husband done anything about it yet? Nope, 'cuz it's nap time! (Partly excusable from his medications, but hey, deal with it!)

difficult child 1 was up until the wee hours again on Saturday night watching TV. Then Sunday he claimed he never knew he wasn't allowed to watch past midnight -- :hammer: Hello? Are you deaf? (I've only told him this about a dozen times. That's about a dozen times too many, huh?)

So today when I drove husband to his MRI, husband asked difficult child 1 to do a small chore for him while we were gone. It was a very simple task and should have taken less than 10 minutes to complete.

I called from the imaging center about an hour after we'd left -- nope, he hadn't done it yet and didn't even remember husband asking him. Also hadn't taken his medications yet like he'd been also asked before we left. Said he was doing it. Now.

I called back about an hour later when we were having lunch. Turns out he's playing a video game (still -- same one he was playing when we left) and he says yeah, he took care of that little task husband asked about. And yes, he took his medications. But no, he hasn't eaten yet, so he says he'll go do that. Now.

We get home around 3:30pm and guess what? Still playing video games and STILL had NOT done the job he was asked to do, and STILL hasn't eaten anything (and he's got Lacrosse at 5pm) and he's now LIED about ALL of it.

He scrambles upstairs to do the job, and I shut down the game (without saving, of course). :devil: Then when he comes down, I calmly laid into him about the lying, the warped priorities, and my now total lack of trust in him. I really need to figure out a more meaningful consequence besides taking away the TV and video game privileges, one that sticks with him longer. Short of branding him, of course. :mad:

Days like this, I just want to send him somewhere else. :faint:
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
Does the chicken coop need a thorough cleaning? How's about a nice-n-early wake up call using a pot and wooden spoon? How about throwing the breaker to his room before you go to bed (lights out!)?
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Gvcmom,
I so understand the feeling of wanting to send them somewhere else! I'm sorry he is being such a pita. I like TM's suggestion of cleaning the chicken coop!
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
The coop's a good idea, but I hesitate because of his asthma. He lied again about something stupid tonight so I made him drop and give me 20 pushups! Tomorrow he is washing the car for me for free as part of his punishment.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Sorry you are having to deal with all of this. Maybe husband needs to shadow him all day as they do chores "together"? Give them a list and stay there so that they can't flake off too much. Tell husband you really need his manly influence to show difficult child how real men can't just sit around playing video games all day.

Make moving the tv out of the room one of those chores. OR just go in and unplug the tv, then use heavy duty scissors and cut the plug off of the cord. It is a pretty easy fix when you get around to wanting the use of the tv. I would tell husband that if it isn't moved out by a certain time you are going to make sure it cannot be turned on because difficult child MUST start adjusting to the school schedule.

I would bet that a neighborhood handyman could fix the plug for $10-$20 at the MOST. difficult child will need to pay that fee, of course.

As for the asthma, they make halfway decent paper face masks that difficult child could wear while cleaning out the chicken coop. Wiz is really super allergic to grass (the allergy doctor had to have them cut the sample of grasses for the testing in half three times before they could finish - he was just hugely reactive) and he does just fine push mowing my parents acre yard. Have him use the neti pot or sinus rinse bottle to wash the airborne particles out of his nose and it takes care of a large portion of the problem also.

It is time to find some creative solutions so that it takes them a while to thwart you. After the videogame lying I would sell the games and buy a book or treat for yourself. It is just so hard to handle the stress that you simply MUST have them help you destress so you don't end up with a stroke or heart attack. Channel your inner Catholic mom.

I am sorry they are testing you this way.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
:rofl:

I threatened to cut off the cord tonight, so husband got involved and used his stern dad-ly voice and told difficult child 1 NO TV (didn't take the set out, though... he needs the dolly for that -- it's a big clunker of a set and it was late, yada, yada, yada). He did take the gameboy away, though -- so I've got that stashed for now.

So maybe after he washes the car, I'll have found some face masks and he can scoop some poop tomorrow, too! :D

And after that, maybe he can mow the lawn, too! (We don't have a push mower, though... darn!) Maybe I can give him scissors to use for that! :devil:

And he'd better get it all done by 2:30pm because he's got lacrosse camp at 3pm.

Oh yeah -- that's another OOPS he dropped on me today -- duh I forgot to tell you before I left for camp mom, but lacrosse camp isn't from 5 to 7 anymore, it's from 3 to 5. :hammer: I really, really did good to not throttle him like I wanted to today!
 

timer lady

Queen of Hearts
I've threatened kt with cutting off television & all electonics in this house. Find something creative & safe to do.

Hope things calm down - I have a lawn that needs mowing & plants that need thinning out if that helps. "Poop patrol" is always a fun chore.;)

Personally, cleaning the toilet with a toothbrush comes to mind as a great consequence.

It's hard to find a consequence that fits the crime when it comes to lying or stealing unless you want to do the same in return & suffer the fall out. I'm considering that myself.

Hope tomorrow is a better day.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Oh my gosh! I nearly forgot, his toilet DOES need cleaning! Thank you so much for the reminder, Linda! :bigsmile: Now, where IS his toothbrush....
 

lizanne2

New Member
Oh boy...do i feel you. the forgeting to eat thing actually gets to me...... First the medications get in the body late...then no food...then football(in our case) is a disaster and the whole things starts again........................

We don't have a chicken coop but the plastic resin patio furniture needs cleaning...

Hang in there!
 

Christy

New Member
Disconnect the cable/sattelite wire and remove it from the room. Also remove the wires connecting the vcr or dvd player if he has one.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
They make this chord locker thingy and sell it at Home Depot or Lowes I think. It makes it so you have two pieces of chord and you can disconnect one piece and remove it so you cant plug in the appliance. I wish I had known about it years ago. Of course now, if the tv is hooked up to cable and you dont have a digital box, then just remove the cable line, the game systems and you have effectively made the set useless.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
You can do the cord removal, and the other things, but my kids/husband always managed to find or borrow cables/cords and get the things plugged in with-in 24 hours. It used to drive me crazy.

Taking a knife or scissors and CUTTING the cord off makes a real STATEMENT and has wonderful "I am NOT HAPPY" impact. It also keeps the kids from searching out replacement cords. And the impact even works on husband's!

I used to have to cope with husband spending every waking moment at home on the computer. If anyone spoke to him he would have a tantrum like a 2yo.

It happened about once a year. After a full week of him tantrumming I gave a warning and then I would take the keyboard and mouse away. He only once got replacement ones. I broke the keyboard in half. That was the last time we had it happen. It just takes a lot to get through my husband.

I think you are on the right footing.

You may need to be "GCV Family - Unplugged" for a while. Take a whole week and turn off the tv, videogames, anything with a screen. Relearn to play games, chat, do projects, and spend time doing things with-o electronic interference.

It has a few days of tantrums and then the miracles happen. You start to spend time doing things together and having fun again.

It is eye opening if you can stick to your guns.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
Last year when the power was out for 3 days due to the windstorm we had a lot of screenless time. I got the most because I was at work. No tantrums though because the kids "got" that it wasn't our fault... Just hoovered big.

Onyxx and I cooked on the grill (I will not do this any more, burnt/raw chicken is nasty), cold showers, etc. We had some light due to the generator, but we wouldn't do stuff like microwave, stove, water heater, TVs. One radio was all we had going and I decreed it would be kept on news.

Lots of reading on the back porch, games by Coleman lantern...
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Oh my family and kids can do "unplugged" but this momma aint playing that game! Nope..not doing it! Dont even suggest it because when the power goes out I start calling the electric company bugging them...lol. Im not a patient person. I would be in a motel so fast.

This is something that would get me to go stay with Jamie and Billie!
 
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