Why Do I Punish Myself?

After a pretty tough day of disobedience and quarreling kids, I did something incredibly short-sided and stupid. Almost as stupid as taking away Eldest's DS...forever. I banned the TV for the entire rest of the summer just when summer swim team ended.

Why do I punish myself like this? Now, the kids come to me constantly--whining and bored. I send them away with threats of chores, if they can't figure it out on their own. They usually scamper away, but today, the boredom was so great that I got a full hour of hard-labor out of the kids (after Eldest finished Harry Potter in a record 8 hours). They swept, they vacuumed, they cleared away most of their junk of the island. They set the table for lunch--with fresh white napkins no less. Yep, they were bored.

I didn't figure this chore-desire would last long and I saw a very boring, whiny summer on the horizon. And then...the spawn surprised me. PB came down first with a craft project she found in her "Your Big Backyard" magazine. She labored for an hour to wash and paint a pet rock..errr. ladybug. Then Li'l Man got into the action, water coloring another specially chosen rock from the yard.

And now? As we speak, all three play together with about 30 paper drinking cups they found on the counter, making structure, pyramids, and towers.

Wow! When did they start entertaining themselves??!

Now they have moved on this morning to Barbie. Yes, you heard me correctly. My almost eleven year old is playing gleefully with a Barbie corvette with a stuffed Eeyore. The kids are racing the corvette again the Barbie mini-van and playing with actual BARBIES? GASP! Who knew that boredom could get them to play with their sister's toys? She hasn't even played with Barbies for years.

I think they might end as drag queens if summer vacation doesn't end soon. I know PB is itching to play beauty shop with her glitters, glosses, and polishes.

Or better yet, we had a friend in college whose Dad worked for Mattel. He was the engineer that actually came up with the radioactive Barbie shoes--didn't you know? That way, the shoes show up on x-rays when swallowed. Brilliant! That's it. My boys are doing product research to be an engineer just like their Dad, CG. Ahhh! He's also been known to get a bit drag queen on occasion as well.

Hmmm...something to ponder.

'lisciously scribed by Scout's Honor @ 9:30 AM