Friday, November 13, 2009

Taking a Break

Hi, my name is Arienne. And I'm an internet-a-holic.

But today, it stops.

Now, I think it's unrealistic to stop competely, but I'm putting up some STRICT limits for myself, indeed, even sacrifices. I have to. My kids need me.

I want to be a good mom, I truly do. And I've tried my best. But there's that saying, Maya Angelou, I think? "When you know better, do better." Well, that's what I'm going to do.

I realize now that a lot of the problems I have with my kids are cries for attention. But I didn't always know what to DO with my kids. I admitted to my mom the other day, "I don't know HOW to play with my kids!" She's given me some suggestions, and I've come up with some of my own. I've been doing a little better with my avoidance over the past few days, but stricter measures must be taken, at least at first.

What are my new rules? No computer when the kids are awake. That means I need to get up earlier than the first kid (before 6am? Really? I think not), or wait until they go to bed, around 7pm. Yup. Yee haw. Packing all my me time into 2-3 hours a night, for about a week and a half. That's how long until my dad comes back. (and when Dad says it's bad, it's BAD.)

That still allows me a little time to check on things with friends, update my blog a little here an a little there. I won't be planting any short term crops in FarmVille, or cooking short order food in CafeWorld, or even playing any computer games, unless I'm really stressed, and even then I might just use that time to take a soak in the hot tub or something. And I have books I want to read... so really, I'm just doing the bare minimum online until I've shown my kids through my actions that I love them, I care about them, and I'm not going to put up with any more crappy behavior. Harsh words, I know, but drastic times call for drastic measures, and sometimes, a little drastic vocabulary.

Aside from that, I NEED HELP! Truly, I don't have a lot of ideas of what to do with my kids. Sad, I know. So please comment on this post with suggestions, PLEASE! Or I may just go crazy.


P. S. I will be using a lot of disciplinary ideas from this book:


3 comments:

AZSongbird said...

Now that Elizabeth is a little older, maybe the book, "Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours," could be of help. It helped me when my kids were young (but not very young.) Dr. Kevin Lehman is the author. I will do what I can to help, Honey.

Love,

Mom

Firefly Photography said...

As for activities Audrey and I pasted Fall leafs on paper. she loved it and was really excited to hang them up. it was cheap and it was two activities in one, and nature walk and an art project!

The Haertlings said...

i have loads of ideas, too many to list let me know when you guys get up here and i'll start typing them up for you.