The Meanest Mother in the World....

My children are in punishment. We've had a lot of 'treat' food stolen of late and this morning was the straw that broke the camels back - a whole cheese cake and chocolate Bavarian went missing from the freezer!!! So in punishment they go - yes all 3 of the older children, they all point fingers at each other and no one takes responsibility so we have the motto here "one in all in" if they are going to act like this. It's obviously one, two or all of them.. but to have them all blame each other **sigh** makes our job rather tough to be judge and jury and I can't continue to cast a blind eye to this kind of behaviour... So they don't get to watch their TV shows for the rest of the week, no computer and no little extras (such as treats etc)

In the midst of the initial grumbles I sent them to their rooms to clean and vacuum them. Kahli came out with a Christmas present from last year that she keeps bringing out when she is meant to be in "punishment" It's like a little bribe "mummy can you help me do this" and the unsaid meaning is "mummy, please help me do this so I can stay out of my room and pretend that I'm not in punishment" So, she tried it again. I once again reminded hr that she was being punished so no fun things at the moment, and to bring it out next week once she has served her punishment (or the perpetrator admits their crime/s) She storms off to her bedroom and throws back at me one of the best compliments I've ever received from anyone. Do you want to know what it was???

It was:

"I've got the meanest mother in the world"

I love that line!! The fact she says it means so much to me!! It's means I'm doing my job, she knows she is being punished for a wrong doing, it means I have respect from my kid in the long run and that she loves me - I know some might find that hard to believe from that line... but in all honesty she wouldn't have said that unless all the above was true!! Especially as she came out 5 minutes later and gave me a hug and apologised for her behaviour.

Anyways it reminds me of this poem that gets sent around in chain-mail...

MEAN MUM

Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will tell them, as my Mean Mum told me:

I loved you enough . . to ask where you were going, with whom, and what time you would be home.

I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover that your new best friend was a creep.

I loved you enough to make you go pay for the bubble gum you had taken and tell the clerk, "I stole this yesterday and want to pay for it."

I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes.

I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, and tears in my eyes. Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect.

I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your actions even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.

But most of all, I loved you enough . . . to say NO when I knew you would hate me for it.

Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won, too. And someday when your children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.

Was your Mum mean?

I know mine was. We had the meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from what other kids had, too.

Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we said, we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.

We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labour Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.

She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough!

Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. They had to come up to the door so she could meet them.

Because of our mother, we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault.

Now that we have left home, we are all educated, honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mum was.

I think that is what's wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have enough mean mums!