Raining mashed potatoes...

Talk about 'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs'

We brought home donuts last night for the kids for breakfast. After breakfast, 2 donuts remained. Having had enough sugar for the morning, I did not allow them to split the rest. So. They have been asking all day who gets the last 2. The 3 girls came to dinner tonight. Jake was too sleepy, Tyson isn't here. After whiny complaints about the peas that got served with dinner, Rob proclaimed that the first 2 to finish their peas could get the donuts. Antics pursued, emotions ran high, contorted faces emerged, and the youngest 2 finished theirs first. Then the 11 year old ensued an 11-years-minus-9-year-old tantrum with the usual proclamations of "that's not fair", but picked up some of her mashed potatoes and hurled them across the room. I sent her out to the back porch for a time-out. Inside the 7 year old decided to give her a bite of the donut, so after about 5 minutes I let the 11 year old be done. The 7 year old went out with her "piece" (ha, ha, ok, peace) offering and the 11 year old promptly fed it to the dog which brought on wails of "you're so mean". Sigh. I sent the 11 year old back out to time-out and of course I was completely in the wrong. :)

LS~ Parents must remember that children are driven by emotion. When children are told "no", they often respond in an angry fashion. (double-duh) Parents must remain calm under these circumstances. If BOTH the parent and child become emotional, nothing will be accomplished. We are not saying that parents should not appropriately respond if their child screams at or hits his/her parent. We are saying that the parents' response must be measured and calm.

I was calm in the tater storm. :) yay me.