~ Consequences ~

My textbook 9-year-old Critter suffered a few unpleasant consequences over the past few weeks.  We won’t go into details, but suffice it to say that the fact that we had to pull out the “No Electronics until you are like, 40 years old!” punishment should tell you we meant business!

I like to think I’m pretty darn strict around here.  But anyone who knows me, knows I say that in the same breath I’m asking what kind of home-made cookies they would like me to make them for their after-school snack.

Consistency has always been my strong point,…. in a hardly-ever sort of way.

But this time….this time….we were sticking to our guns, by golly.  Me, Critter’s Dad, My Captain, and Grandma Jane…all four of the adults in Critter’s life, were a unified front of “Don’t even think about playing with anything that has an ‘ON’ button, young man!”  I mean, we had him fearing that he wouldn’t be playing with anything electronic until well after his own kids were grown.

And a funny thing has been happening in these past two non-electronic weeks…. Critter has re-discovered the other toys in his room, re-discovered all the awesome books in the house, re-discovered his creative outlet when it comes to drawing, or making shields out of paper plates, or thermonuclear reactors out of marbles, dental floss and chewed up bubblegum.

And the paper air-planes that are coming out of this kid….GEESH!  He’s actually designing his own, discovering what works and what doesn’t, and enjoying every blooming minute of it. He runs around the yard for hours in his quest to make THE PERFECT  paper Stunt Plane

I love this!  I love this re-engagement into the real world.

I never would have thought that laying down consequences in an effort to merely re-direct a non-desireable behavior would result in getting my son back.

Crazy.