The New Process

We are trying a program with my son to see if he can have more flexible rules around when and how much time he can spend on screens.   At times on holidays or sometimes even weekends, we let him just gorge on screens to see if he has a maximum tolerance for it.   

He has a lot of stamina when it comes to screens.   He does take a break, but not for long before he goes to another flavor of screens.  Tonight my son asked us if we could play his game with him for a bit.   We looked at the clock, and it was five minutes until ten o'clock—which we told him, 

Thus began an epic match of screaming and barring teeth and pulling hair and all manner of things that were fueled by my husband saying, "it's almost ten o'clock and time for bed."   My son was beside himself with anger, and it didn't follow.   I wasn't putting up with his blaming us for things and then admitting he had gotten angry because he didn't know it was that late and that, yes, he was taking it out on us.  

He would admit things and then go back into battle mode.   We finally got him calm enough, and he gave us some good tips on how to interact with him when he's that angry.   Some of them were good, and others weren't practical, but I'm so glad my son is thinking about how we can engage each other in a more productive way.  A lot of tonight's discussions were not productive at all.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My husband finally finished listening to "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir, one of my favorite books of all time. My daughter loved it too.  She sat on the couch with her father as he listened to the last bit of the book.   I listened in, too from around the corner.   I love the audiobook version.   The voice actor makes it so much more.