I don't know about you all, but why on earth is it required for a mother to tell her son EVERY.SINGLE.MORNING to brush his teeth? He's had to do it for 8 years now.
EVERY.SINGLE.GOSH.DARN.MORNING.
Yet, each day as I'm cleaning up breakfast dishes and the boys are putting on their shoes for school, I say, "Did you brush your teeth?"
Drew, WHO IS 7, replies with the same words every time, "Yup, I sure did!" The answer is accompanied with a smile, which lights up my heart. My morning dose of Drew ... I don't know what I'd do without it.
Jake, WHO IS 9, TWO STINKIN' YEARS OLDER THAN HIS LITTLE BROTHER, with MORE EXPERIENCE AT THIS TEETH BRUSHING STUFF, also enlightens me with the same answer each morning. "Aaarrrgghh. NO! I forgot. Dang it, why do I have to do it every morning. I just brushed them last night. Can't I just chew a piece of gum?" Jake also accompanies this reply with the same thing every day. It's very predictable. It's approximately a 7.2 second groan, deep from his chest, as he removes his shoes. Then 16 stomps up the stairs and a slam of the bathroom door. I feel like I'm in the movie Groundhog Day. (Which I hate by the way. I CAN.NOT.STAND.THAT.MOVIE. Don't ask me why ... I don't have a clue.)
When he returns, he has more nasty comments ... and he tries to say them under his breath, so I don't hear. But I know he really WANTS me to hear. Do you want to know how I know that? Because we go through this every day. If he didn't want me to hear, he would have stopped doing it by now.
While normally this caused me to backlash with yelling and threats of favorite things being taken away ... that is the case no longer. Nope.
I watched the movie Coach Carter. And I learned something. Kids will ignore words. In one ear and out the other. Time out ... yeah, just gives them some more quiet time to plot their next act of destruction. So .... now, when you backtalk or do something you KNOW is wrong in our house ...
That's right. Push ups. It really pisses the kids off ... and Jake can pump out 40 or 50 of them in his little fits of rage.
You see ... it's MY fault that he doesn't brush his teeth ... and then MY fault that he throws his shoes across the kitchen because he has to go back up and brush his teeth ... again, MY fault that he slams the door ... and MY fault that he can't keep his words to himself when he returns ... therefore, he's mad at ME for having to do push-ups.
It's so much fun being a drill sergeant, and I'm going to have the strongest kids in Iowa. Jake may only be 50 pounds, but man, he'll have hellacious biceps.
