Yesterday

Yesterday was one of those days. One of those days when you take a good, hard look at your kids and wonder "where have i gone wrong?" How did I get to this point, and when can I leave!! Oh my goodness, how aware am I that my kids are completly out of control. Its like a bad episode of supernanny where anyone watching is saying "this mom has lost it". That would be me-losing it. I ask my kids to do something and its as if I was on mute. I ask again...nothing. I yell. Oh mom did you say something? How long does it take to get to the point where your kids only listen if your voice is 10 decimals above shrieking? I think im at about a 12-shrieking AND voice cracking. I have one little spoiled monkey who thinks the world revolves around her, one fit throwing 4 year old who doesnt quite understand the meaning of no, a sensitive 5 year old who's only goal in life is to please and when he doesnt do something perfect he breaks down in tears-oh, he also thinks he's nacho. A smart alecy(sp?) pre-teen 7 year old who thinks life is just not fair because she has homework and chores and cant play with her equally pre-teen friend 24-7, and finally a know-it-all who's ears are plugged with something that doesnt allow him to listen to requests and makes him forget just about anything that doesnt involve computers or video games. Days like these require only one thing: a trip to the bookstore for a book on how to get my crap together so my kids can get their crap together!
I remember a while back reading on one of my friends blogs about a book that she had read and was in the process of trying some new methods. I know that im probably the last one in the world to have heard about this book, but it has always stuck in my head since reading her blog and I thought it was about time I read it. Last night I got the book and started reading it. I was the classic "what not to do" parent. Every scenario they presented, i was on the negative side of it. I never really thought that by asking a kid "what did you do that for" could cause them to feel bad about themselves. Yikes!! Im the classic threat yelling parent. "Stop that", "Dont do that or your gonna be grounded". I never realized that secretly, my kids were always thinking "oh yea, what are you gonna do about it?" To my credit, I am pretty good with the time outs and sticking to some threats, but sometimes its just too much to deal with. Bill is a bigger threat yeller than me by like 20 times. The kids know that when mom says no, they can go to dad and he almost always says yes. What has that done?? It has turned our bunch into a bunch of whiny, no listening, unappreciative, disrespectful kids. I think a change is in order.
Ok, so maybe im exagerating a bit, but you get the jist. I really do have good kids who are loving and sweet and love to help out, but boy do we need help.
The book is Parenting with Love and Logic. Im excited to try this out. Ill let you know how it goes!!