Taking Stuff Away/Giving Stuff Back

Hm. I was thinking a little while ago about the concept of taking away a beloved toy/tangible object such as the TV or Xbox to punish a misbehaving tot and thought, "Hm, this ultimately just perpetuates other ongoing problems, resulting in no results." Here's how...

Sure, sure the kiddo cries their little eyeballs out for the moment, but that soon passes. What replaces this is tiny idle hands introduced to large idle time. Uh-oh.

And after the punishment is over and whatever mayhem during the toy hiatus has ensued, they get the stuff back and gorge themselves on it. TV becomes their BF4Eva or the Xbox becomes their favorite robot with skinny noodle arms attached to bulbous, plastic hands that have buttons on them that the kids can push and make stuff happen on the screen. They get hooked even worse.

This, in turn, brings up a whole new problem of overuse of stuff. Sure, in my last post I lauded the video gaming world - and I still think video games help keep the mind from being terribly wasted - but everything should be done in moderation. I love McDonald's snack wraps with their chipotle bbq sauce, but do I eat them everyday? Yes. But, that's not the point. Point is, too much of something - for kids - is bad news.

Where was I? Oh yea, so now we have to once again take away the game/Xbox/snack wrap - not to punish, but to ween. Ween them away from overeating - as it were - on their technological babysitters.

It's a windy road. Uphill both ways. In the snow.

I Believe...#6

I believe video games* are good for kids. They teach them to think and use teamwork. Their brains are kept from being reduced to jelly due to non-use. As where the TV has been known to turn them into jelly brain-eating zombie potatoes, the video game console - when added to said TV - is kinda like them being in school...without them thinking they're learning stuff.

It's like summer school. Or homework. That they beg you to do. Genius.

(*Of course, Lego Star Wars and race car games are the ones I mean for the kiddos. Games like Grand Theft Auto and Modern Warfare...those, I believe...those are good for me.)

Posts from the road...#2

So I get home right at bedtime for the kiddos last night and rush up to tell the tiny humans goodnight. They went to the waterpark with A and my mom so they were pretty much zombified after many hours in the sun/rain at that point, but they snapped out of it when I poked my head into their rooms. They asked if they were gonna get to see me today, which was a bummer because they prob will not. Swing and a miss for me. On the flip side, I did grab E the Yoda packpack to sleep with and convinced A to let the girls have a later curfew so they could rule the Monopoly world. So I think things evened out.

Posts from the road...#1

In a pack of 7, you are gonna have top dogs and underdogs. Nature of things. Its not a bad idea to give the latter a helping hand outta the trenches at times.

This is a test.

This is a test from the emergency phone broadcast...system...thing. Anyway, I was checking to see if posts from the road on my cell would work. They do. Joy joy.

Artwork by E & J-Boy

The following art pieces were made by the youngest boys - E (3) and J-Boy (4) - on a drawing app...on my Samsung Finesse.


"Robot" By E


"Another Robot" By E


"Punkinhead" By E


"A Guy" By E


"Elmo" By J-Boy


"Dragon" By J-Boy


"Flinky" By J-Boy


"Daggy" By J-Boy

"You're a Yoda packpack!"

Ever find yourself being referred to as a "Yoda packpack?" No? I have. You see, many moons or two years ago, for Halloween I went as Luke Skywalker from The Empire Strikes Back when he went to train with Yoda on Dagobah. Well, to complete the ensemble, I scooped up a Yoda backpack...you know, for authenticity's sake.

Well, fast forward to two days ago, I showed E - the 3-year old - the backpack and he's like...

"That's the same guy as the Lego guy!" (He's referring to the Lego Yoda amongst the Lego cache.)

And I'm like..."Yep. It's Yoda."

And he's all..."Yoda's a packpack!"

And I'm all..."Yep, Yoda's a backpack."

He comes back with a..."That's funny!"

And I come back with a..."No, you're funny."

And then he's like..."No, you're funny!"

And then I'm like..."You're a Yoda backpack."

And he comes at me with..."You're a Yoda packpack!"

And then he runs off laughing. One word: precious.