If at first you don't succeed, try, try, and try again

If at first you don't succeed, try, try, and try again; that is my new motto as a parent. Braden and Brooke have recently been in an everything is free game, I don't care if I destroy your things mood, so I decided to teach them the logical consequence. Monday morning I sat Brooke and Braden down and showed them the most recent victims of their destructive ways: my deodorant and my Halloween sprinkles. Brooke had decided she wanted to see how it would feel to dig out the rest of my deodorant, and Braden thought it would be fun to watch my sprinkles fall on the floor one by one. I started the conversation out by asking Braden and Brooke who the items belonged to, to which they replied, "Mommy." I said, "Yes, and did you ask Mommy if you could play with these?" The answer of course was no. We then discussed what they should do about the things they had destroyed. Braden thought that he and Brooke should buy me new stuff, but when I asked where he was going to get the money, I got a blank stare. I asked if he wanted suggestions, which he did. In the end, Braden, Brooke, and I decided that they would do jobs around the house to earn money to replace my things. We made a list of jobs numbered 1-10, and then put the numbers 1-10 in a bag for them to pull out as we went to select which job they would do next. I also got 2 bags out, one for each of them, to put their money in as they completed a job. Some of the things they did were: clean out the refrigerator, clean up the backyard, clean the toilets, clean the sinks, and clean the playroom upstairs. I don't know if they were actually suffering as much as I was hoping they would. I was hoping they would be a little miserable to drive the point home, but I knew my goal was not being met when in the middle of cleaning out the refrigerator Braden looked at me and said, "Hey Mama, we are having a party." Let me just point out, that they did a LOT of work! I made them take everything out, throw out what was bad, wipe everything down, and put everything back in the refrigerator. Of course, I forgot to take into account that as long as we are doing something together and music is on, it is a party. Despite Braden's loving work mood, I continued on with the plan. Monday night we poured out their money, counted it, and determined they had enough to replace the items; Rich took them to Wal-mart and let them select their items, and took them to the register to pay. Brooke excitedly ran into the house exclaiming, "I got your 'odorant!" She was so proud, she wanted me to put it on right then and there. I went to bed that night feeling like a good parent, thinking I had really taught them something. Of course, when I woke up this morning to discover that Braden had gotten into my pink cake glitter and had sprinkled it all over the carpet, I realized he had taught me a lesson, I needed to put a childproof doorknob cover on the pantry door along with my bedroom door. He also taught me that as a parent, you can't just do something once and have the point always come across. Of course I knew they weren't going to never destroy again or get into something that wasn't theirs, but I thought they would at least make it a full week before doing it again! I guess if at first you don't' succeed, you must try, try, and try again. The good parents stick in there, continuing to allow the natural consequence teach the lesson when possible; they don't give up even when they don't seem to be getting through, but come up with another game plan. The easy thing would be to throw your hands up in the air and give up, but the most rewarding thing is to dig your heels in and fight the good fight; they're worth it!