No Pajamas

Parenting can get you into some pretty dark places.  Last night my son had perhaps too much energy. This could have been in part because my husband and I had a lot to do during the day and my son can and will entertain himself all day with iPad this and Xbox that and Netflix here and Wii U there.   We should have booted him outside and locked the door to ensure he got some energy burned.   Only we didn’t.

My husband got a glimpse of the need at dinner and had promised the children he’d take them on a night walk in the woods with flashlights after dinner and homework.  Which did happen, only it wasn’t long enough because the children came back amped up and unable to focus enough thoughts to get their clothes off to get into the bath.

My son couldn’t focus on anything but being energetic.  He was warned.   He was redirected.   He was cautioned he was on his last warning and his butt better get in the tub stat or there would be consequences.   He did get in the tub but at that point but he was still out of control.   Defiant not listening kind of out of control, which isn’t really like him.    He was warned one more intentional splashing and that was it.

So of course he splashed dad intentionally again.   My husband doesn’t lose his temper often but he’d had it.   My son got pulled out of the tub and was told to go straight upstairs to bed—wet, unwashed and without pajamas.

I stood in the hallway and prevented my son from coming back into the bathroom while he wailed, “I want just one more chance”.   I told him there were no more chances, that he’d had double the share of chances he normally should have had.

He went upstairs crying and yelling and calling us all sorts of terrible names laying our deficient parenting skills.   I calmly followed him up and shut the door to the room behind him.   He wasn’t going to get any pajamas but I looked in the dirty clothes hamper and said, “would you look at that, there are still your pajamas from last night, maybe they’d work for tonight?”

He calmed down and got in bed after brushing his teeth.   He ended the night being the perfect bedtime six-year-old.   Hopefully today he’ll remember the lesson he learned last night.    Hopefully my husband and I learned our lesson too and won’t leave our son in front of digital all day on the weekends.

The Big Boy Update:  My son was in the house talking to me the other day.   I don’t remember how the topic came up but he told me, “I’ve been a tree before.”  I must have made a confused face because he ran out the front door and climbed up the tree in the front yard.   When I couldn’t see any of his body any more he cried out, “see mom, I’m a tree”.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My husband made eggs for breakfast.   My daughter was eating her eggs and said, “mom, I found a piece of egg that was shaped like a gun.”