Thanks everyone! Your posts have made me feel much better.
Yes, they're very good kids. I was just posting in N&CE a few weeks ago about how one of my kids and his friends rescued another child from some bullies at the park (yes, the same park). They are kind and generous when their heads are screwed on straight. But of course they're normal kids who think nothing bad can ever happen to them, and the rules that we set are just there to ruin their fun!
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Originally Posted by Angi  How are they getting out of the house? Do you know?
My dad installed some very inexpensive magnetic alarms on the door and window frames (I was getting out through a window at one point). The window frame ones were actually on the outside of the window, so I could not "turn them off" from the inside.
You can install them high up where the kids can't reach easily. When the magnets break contact there is a horrifying screeching noise. Trust me.  :
The kids will more then likely try it again, I'm sorry to say. But you can take a few preventive measures, like you are doing. You are fantastic! I think you handled it just right.
BTW - My parents and I added up all the "grounding" time that I SHOULD have served, had it been consecutive and not concurrent. I'm still grounded. I'm 38. I'm also a productive member of society.  |
Yeah, they went right out the front door! That shocked me. Plus, they didn't even lock it behind them. I kinda got them with that - "What if someone broke in and hurt your baby brother?" and all that. They can't go easily out of their bedroom windows because all the bedrooms are on the second floor. They all have fire ladders, but they're all but impossible to climb UP, so getting back in would be a problem!
They have alarm boxes on their windows and if they try to mess with them, they'll just set the alarm off. It's an older alarm that makes a LOUD whooping siren sound that you can hear from a mile away, so no sleeping through that!
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Originally Posted by UUMom I don't understand what the toothbrush reference means. You made them brush their teeth at 5am? I don't get it. 'splain.
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Nah. I made them clean the toilets with the toothbrushes. It was the worst (not abusive) thing I could think of in my exhausted, upset state.
Yeah, it has the makings of a holiday story in 10-20 years. I can see us busting a gut over remembering them in their jammies, scrubbing toilets in the early dawn light. They'll laugh at me, I'm sure, for saying "What were you thinking?" like, a thousand times!
Right now, though, it's not funny to them at all (though it already is, a little, to me). Course, they spent the day pulling weeds and scrubbing the floor in the sunroom, so no real room for humor yet!
to you.
My only thing is my son show the same respect for me as I do for him, I woul dnever leave the house without telling him where I am going, etc, so I expect him not to do it to me either.
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Ewww!!! I think I'm a little nauseous!
(he blackmailed me, and I wouldn't cave into his demands) I turned out mostly ok, if it makes you feel better. I won't tell you what I was out doing, but there were no drugs or alcohol or anything illegal involved if it makes you feel better.
Yeah, this is what my dad said: "Hey, at least they're being sneaky rotten kids together. That's family devotion right there!" Then again, my dad has a smart ass comment for every occasion, so I come by it honest. 
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