Making Some Changes

I got very angry with Sarah two days ago when I discovered that she'd ripped small holes in some of her Christmas presents (they were wrapped and stored) to see if she was getting the toy she wanted.

One of her punishments was that I told her I wouldn't buy her any more toys which meant that all she was getting was what I'd already bought and since I hadn't bought the laptop I had planned on getting for her, no laptop this year.

The other punishment was that she was banned from using my laptop indefinitely. This was very difficult for her and yesterday night, when the juice had run out on both her ipod and her DS she wailed that she was SO bored and had nothing to do.

This is when I reminded her of the many many MANY other toys, games and puzzles she had and before long, Chloe and Sarah were playing cards together and then playing board games together and sure enough, they were laughing and actually having fun... imagine.

So I took out a puzzle for G and me and sure enough, we sat down and worked together and chatted and laughed and enjoyed each other's company.

And this is how I came to decide that as a family we need to cut down on our screen time. So today, from 10:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. (when Once Upon A Time Comes on), we will be screen free. We will focus on other things, we will hopefully get things done and most importantly we will, I sincerely hope, interact and connect with each other.

Wish me luck. It's gonna be a rough ride!