Making Peace
This has been a really tough week. A few days ago, our dog responded very badly when his paw was stepped on. Very badly. As a result, he no longer has a future as a member of this family. Our home has been mighty quiet all week as we each process what happened and what is to come.
Maybe that fear and sadness was the reason. Maybe it was just because he is a boy. Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that his brother did the same thing to him the night before, BUT when my 10 year old boy opted to give his brother a surprise ice cold shower with the yard hose, we had a lot of tears.
So what to do? Punish? Naw, his brother did the same thing to him the day before. Scream? Naw, it would just blend in with the other outside sounds. Take away priveleges? Naw. Too drastic.
Then the brainstorm: a favorite consequence in our family is when the perpetrator is given as a servant to the victim for a period of time. Usually my kids make great use of their servants:
Maybe that fear and sadness was the reason. Maybe it was just because he is a boy. Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that his brother did the same thing to him the night before, BUT when my 10 year old boy opted to give his brother a surprise ice cold shower with the yard hose, we had a lot of tears.
So what to do? Punish? Naw, his brother did the same thing to him the day before. Scream? Naw, it would just blend in with the other outside sounds. Take away priveleges? Naw. Too drastic.
Then the brainstorm: a favorite consequence in our family is when the perpetrator is given as a servant to the victim for a period of time. Usually my kids make great use of their servants:
- make my bed!
- clean-up the toys by yourself!
- practice the piano in my place!
But last night, the servant got one command:
"Pull your pants up high and put on a tie."
The servant looked to me for help. I shrugged and smiled. The servant complied and all was well.
thats too funny... what a great command LOL
I feel for you on the dog dept. sometimes they just don't adapt well and have to move to a different home
I have been trying to figure out something... I have about 30 blogs i visit daily...but for some reason yours is super hard to load and I am not sure if it is my OLD computer bogging down and acting ignorant or if there is something different with your blog... most that i do read are blogger.com blogs ... has anyone else who reads mentioned anything about troubles loading your page? I can't not read it cause I just love it too much but, any insight would be wonderful!
HUGS and happy friday!
Laura
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Oh, I like this idea of punishment by servitude! Good plan. My parents used to make us hug each other and smile at each other after a sibling fight. To me that encourages putting on a "false front", which I grew up to not care for at all.
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What a great idea! Sorry about the dog.
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