So, what to do? Will I learn better from the error of my ways if I send myself to my room (what a wonderful thought; "sorry children, mommy is punished for the day"), deprive myself of dessert for a week or take away my knitting or computer time? The first would be counter-productive and the other three would make me grumpy. I already feel bad enough, a punishment will not change what happened or ensure I never do that again...no, the water bill will take care of that.
How to give our children real consequences for their actions? I, for one, am tired of trying to improve behavior by setting out artificial ones. Language has been an item for us (and in a bilingual version!) Revoking privileges has worked well, now they're sneaky when they use bad words. What values am I promoting? The truth is, as a house ideal, I will not have nasty language flying through the air. It pollutes and makes the receiver and the others around him feel icky. At the same time, I do not think that playing potty-mouth-police 24/7 is the way to go about it. Then again, real life also means obeying the law of the place in which you live.
As you may already know, pickpockets merrily worked the crowds of London come out to see the public hanging of...another pickpocket.
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