DUCT TAPE EXPERIMENT, DAYS TWO THROUGH FIVE

I was so busy shutting-up and voting and parenting and working…that I was only keeping notes during the week.

For every single parent who does this, you will have your own experience, your own learning curve, or as Queen Oprah calls it, your own “A-ha! moment.”

Day Two  = HOT MESS   

Louise lies on the floor and declares “she is not going to school,” and all I could do was stare at her.  My thoughts whirled: “She always pulls this crap” and “she knows I don’t feel well” and “why does she have to be the difficult one?”  She was still in her pajamas and we were ten minutes away from leaving.  Because I could not speak, my only option was to act.  I put her in the car (still in her PJ’s) and she got dressed there.  She cried and yelled, and then her older sister cried and yelled…and the funny part?  I was the only person not crying and yelling!  As horrible and terrible and frustrating as this situation felt, there was a strange comfort in knowing I could not talk.  Was I making the situation better?  I don’t know.  Was I making it worse?  Absolutely not.  And everyone made it school on time.

Day Three = Getting Better, but not Great

I woke up, brushed my teeth, and slapped that bandaid on.  My overwhelming thought was, “Thank God I cannot talk.”  Isn’t that interesting?  I was so relieved at the prospect of staying quiet, that that feeling stayed with me all morning.  When the two year old threw her food on the floor, I couldn’t yell.  When the five year old could not find her shoes (AGAIN), I silently waited outside (she found them and put them on in the car).  The amazing part is that, while the behavior wasn’t perfect, it really wasn’t any worse.  I kept waiting for everything to go to hell-in-a-handbasket…it never did.

Day Four = The Kids Don’t Like It

The kids have overwhelmingly voted for me to take the band-aid OFF.  I find this amusing and interesting, because of course they want to take it off!  They want me to start to manage them again!  Nope, not falling for that.  They are acutely uncomfortable in this new role of “Do something for yourself” and they are really throwing it at me this morning.  The whining has been upped, and the sloth-like slowness is manifesting earlier.  The only kid who is behaving better and better is the two year old.  Her whining?  Significantly decreased.  Throwing of toys and breakables?  Far less.  Amazing, really.  The other two kids should take a page out of her book.

Day Five = The Wheels Have Come Off the Wagon