Prairie Mama; Back On The Prairie: Rules

I remember when I was 7 or 8 (my sister, Cristin, wasn't of dating age quite yet) we had a Family Council about rules. We all sat down, all 7 of us, and talked about what the rules should be and the consequences for those rules. I was very adamant that a rule should be made of NO DATING before 16. Kind of just to stick it to my sister (love you C!). I thought it was a grand rule until I was about 14 and I met this guy, he was a Senior, I was a Freshman, and he LIKED me! Then, I thought it was a really dumb rule and I hated the consequence that went with it - being grounded.

Last night, I did the same thing with my kids. We sat down and made up our rules and consequences. Seth has had a really hard time recently with hitting Jeremy and I. He also has been extremely disobedient and just not nice. I am sure it has a lot to do with a new baby in the house and trying to see how far he can go...but really, it's wearing on me. So, we talked about how God has rules and how there are good and bad consequences for our actions.

When I asked him what he thought the rules should be he continually said, "Good Rules!". Yeah ok, but what are those good rules my son?

1. Be kind - no hitting, no yelling, no fighting
2. Leave the cats alone - seriously, this drives me nuts!
3. Obey Mom and Dad
4. Pick up your toys and books
5. Love One Another

The bad consequences are going to your room, going to the power chair (like time-out), and losing money. Now, lest you think I am stealing from my children...we made banks last night and "money" for them. When they follow the rules, they get to earn this money. This money will earn them priveldges, like watching a movie, earning back toys that were taken away, computer time, etc. I am hoping that this will help them learn to be a wee bit more responsible, I know, it's asking a lot for a 4 and 2 year old!, and that they will start to be more respectful of eachother and us. I'll let you know how it works!

Speaking of rules being broken...

Mother Nature decided to break some rules and, as I have previously mentioned, it snowed this weekend! None of it stuck, until Sunday night. We woke up to snow, not much, but it was snow. The kids were SO excited. So, we got down all the snow stuff, put it on over their jammies, and they went out to play in the much anticipated snow.

Since Mother Nature was breaking the rules, we decided to break some rules and stay in jammies all day. Ok, the kids stayed in Jammies all day. It was lovely. We had a hot chocolate party complete with zucchini bread cake that I made on Sunday. It was so nice.