August 24, 2011

Day Three - I haven't wavered yet, so this is a good sign. I know there are sayings out there about how many times it takes to do something before it becomes a habit. Okay, so that number for me is probably 948. Especially if it's a good habit I'm trying to instill. Things like not biting my nails (accomplished during middle school, thank you), not eating large meals late (only took 55 days, amazing), making an item a day for my shop (okay, still working on that one, but its only been 93 days, I've got time). Of course, you know, bad habits take about 3 seconds to instill - eat the second brownie, use the styrofoam plates one more night (who really wants to wash the dishes?)

Began my new mode of operation with my boys last night. Not too bad, but definitely different. I had to breathe and choke back some things that I would have normally said and done. But it worked! They were confused, then angry, then confused again and then .... they did what was expected of them! I have to stick to my guns on this one.

Update: Huge blow up with middle son this afternoon. He had made plans for Thursday, but on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, he failed to follow the directions that were given to him. I did as I was directed to do - give the direction, turn and walk away, expect him to follow through. Sooo, this evening when he asked about his plans for tomorrow, I simply stated "You're not going." Wait three beats for the shock to pass through his body and then "Why not?!" I calmly replied that he had failed to do what was asked of him and then cited the two occasions where he dropped the ball. Twenty minutes of him trying, unsuccessfully, to argue why this was so totally unfair (this was a really hard time for me, middle son and I have yelling matches often) and my continuing to repeat that he had not done what was asked of him, calmly and quietly. I told him after 10 minutes (probably 9 minutes too long) that the conversation was closed and that I wasn't going to change my mind. Ninety minutes later, he came to me and apologized for yelling, said that he understood his consequences for his behavior and that he understood that I was simply working on trying to help him be more responsible. WOW!!!

We'll see what happens next. Onward and upward!