Scared Straight--Ghetto Style!

John decided to go hunting early one morning and took a half day off. I told him he was killing me but did he listen? Of course, not!!!

Moriah is a creature of habit. We must adhere to a strict schedule and not deviate from said schedule. The Morning Ritual at our house includes Daddy. When Daddy is not here, the schedule goes a wry.

Moriah, Luke, and I were getting dressed and ready for work and school. We try to let Luke sleep as long as we can but "as long as we can" was not long enough on this morning. Why? Because Daddy wasn't here and the schedule had been deviated from. I was running amuck (this is the only part of the schedule that remained constant). I realized suddenly that we had 5 minutes before we had to leave.

I said, "Moriah, we have to leave in 5 minutes and you haven't put your shoe and socks on or brushed your teeth or hair!" In her new found juvenile delinquency she retorts, "I don't care!" As you can imagine, this went over well.

We made it up to 6 weeks of being grounded before we managed to shut the overdrive down on her mouth. Luke was crying because he must be held every waking moment. Major Problem, we now have 1 minute and counting before we are out the door and the hair and teeth are still not brushed and the shoes and socks are not being worn. So, I said, "Moriah! Go brush your teeth, grab a hairbrush, your shoes, and socks and let's go!"

Moriah begins to cry, "I don't want to be grounded Momma!" She has been grounded (which pretty much means she loses her TV privileges) so much lately for various offenses that if she were a house she would have the strongest foundation in the neighborhood. My reply to her cry was, "I don't want a little girl who backtalks and is disrespectful. How can we both get what we want Moriah?" Hmmmmmm! Novel concept. "I don't know," she replies. I told her to think about it and we would talk more when we got to school.

I explained to her that because of our delay that I had to take her to work with me because I had already been late once and as a result the babysitter's husband was late for work (that is a story that is much like where Cain's wife came from....you don't really need to know to grasp the concept of the story.). One important thing you do need to know is that Moriah and I had previously discussed where I work and why some kids come to this place. So, she already knew that where Mom works is not a pleasant place.

We drive through Mineral Springs and slap dab in front of me at the intersection is the clock at the bank which reads, "7:45 *flash* 19" YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!!! I did not just 6 minutes prior to this time make my child run outside into 19 degree weather with no shoes and socks on. Looks like that Mother of the Year plaque will have to wait another year!!!! We arrive in Tollette at the ILC and the babysitter isn't there yet and neither are the kids. This is good! Maybe I can get Moriah straightened out and put her on the shuttle bus to go to Mineral Springs.

Mrs. Sherri arrives and picks up Luke. One down, one to go. Uh-oh! Here comes the bus of lovelies that I have to spend the day. I called the elementary school to let them know that I had Moriah and she would be at school as soon as we straightened out a little incident that happened this morning. I got the hairbrush and began to brush Moriah's hair. She told me once again, "I don't want to be grounded." And again, "I don't want a little girl who backtalks and is disrespectful. How can we both get what we want?" And, AGAIN, "I don't know." We went through this cycle several times before the answer became.. "We could both get what we want by me not backtalking and being disrespectful." Ohmigosh! Ding*Ding*Ding*Ding! We have a winner!

I gave her a hug and said "Ok! You are still grounded for the weekend which is 2 days and that's better than 6 weeks right!" We both agreed on that. I explained that I was glad that she understood what she had done but the 2 days was because she had actually done something that needed correcting. I felt so good!!!! Another tragedy had been averted. I went to tell Mr. Lampkins that I was going to run her to school really quickly and would be right back.

As I was walking to the front of the room, a "situation" occurred with one of the kids. Moriah turned and faced the wall and began to cry. The kid that was misbehaving asked if that was my daughter and I answered that it was. He said, "Why is she crying?" I said, "She's scared too death!" He wondered why she was scared and why she was there. I explained, "She is here because she was disrespectful to me this morning much like you are doing right now to Mr. Lampkins with the exception of she isn't use to kids acting like you are!"

Bless her heart! She cried all the way back to school. It's just a 5 mile trip but it seemed like longer today. We got to school. I told Moriah that I was going to go in and "sign you in." I wiped her face off and sent her to class. Her class is right across the hallway from the office. I noticed that she came out of the class and went to the restroom. It wasn't until later that I fully understood why she needed to go wash her face again.

Apparently, when I used the phrase "sign you in" it was misinterpreted. Moriah went back to class and explained that to the substitute teacher for the day that "As we speak, my mom is in the office signing me into ILC because I was disrespectful and talked back to her this morning and that place is horrible!"