Why I haven't posted in a while

There has been a bit of a tussle between me and the kidlets of late. This tussle is born of protracted and global bad behavior on their part and the insanity it has produced on my part since I am the only one home most of the time to deal with it.

The night before CW's birthday, things had gotten sufficiently out of my control that I began issuing the sorts of punishments that moms reserve for serious systemic problems, because the punishments effectively punish mommy just as much (if not more) than the recidivist children. But there was no other way. I knew this because I had tried all the other ways without meaningful result. So, I invoked the most drastic of drastic punishments: No screen time of any kind, in this case, for one week. This meant that the children couldn't watch TV, movies, play Wii or be on the computer for non-homework related use. Usually such a punishment enlists my children in a lot of whining, complaining, and general sneakiness which gets days added to the punishment. But this time, I used my techie skills (limited though they may be) and locked down all the media devices so that sneakiness was less likely (not for lack of trying on their parts). Since the devices were obviously locked, they gave up the whining and complaining and actually took their punishment with little more than wistful looking at the calendar. But since they couldn't be on screens, my screen time was limited as well. I suppose it made me a more attentive mother. I know it made them more likely to engage in messes and imaginative play. But the thing that I didn't not expect was that I did not want to go back to a life with rampant screens. So we didn't. There are new rules with very limited use of the various forms of media at our disposal. I hope this will eventually lead to a better general spirit about our home and a more reasonable temperament in my children. I can hope right?