Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Language Warning

Zac spent tonight washing walls. He had been busted for scratching graffiti into our kitchen table. The positioning of said graffiti was most unfortunate as it sits just above the dinner plate position at the head of the able. Through a stroke of luck, however, Mick was not sitting in his usual position at the dinner table this evening. I was. My first reaction upon seeing the offending indentation was to draw in breath sharply. Zac's knee jerk reaction to my uncharacteristic dinnertime behaviour was to announce "I didn't do it." How could he know what he hadn't done if he had in fact not done it. Clue number one. Clue number two was the repetition of the phase "I didn't do it." I didn't need any micro expressions to tell he was lying to me. Clue three came by way of a spelling test. I asked Gus to spell the offending word and he had to ask if it had a big 'c' or little 'c'. (It's not that word) Gus was exonerated. Zac made an attempt to cover his tracks by writing a lower case where the graffiti had an uppercase, but his 'k' gave him away. His handwriting was a match. Now to the punishment. This was no ordinary misdeed and so needed a less than ordinary consequence. So I gave Zac the Enyo washer and told him to wash walls until bed time. With a minimal amount of posturing he did and in the process confessed his crime and entered into a productive discussion about restitution. An hour later and many walls washed he went to bed and I avoided a dramatic meltdown, his and mine. Some time today I was asked to ponder the question 'What have you done today to make you feel proud?' I can now say that I feel proud that I handled a stressful family situation without threats or raised voices (screaming) or smacking. So that when my Visiting Teachers came over (I had forgotten they were coming) as the children were all going to bed I did not have to explain the tension in the house. Instead they were surprised that I was already laughing about the matter.

Exhibit A:
Do not scroll down if you are easily offended or if me posting this will change your opinion of me for worse.
















































11 comments:

LittleHeath said...

Pretty sure you can change the F to a D then Scratch a cute little drawing of a fluffy little duck next to it - then that can be Poppy's seat at dinner time cause she's cute and has fluffy hair - just like the DUCK

ingrid said...

What a fantastic opportunity to convince Mick to get a new dining table!!! Blessing in disguise?!?!

Anonymous said...

Hahahahahahahah I know it is really not funny but hahahah I can't help it. (*_*) It is often the worst things that we control our anger over the best because if we didn't we would be holding wakes for our kids instead of blogging about them and laughing. hahahaha xoxox Naughty boy!!! Love Mum

Kristie said...

I love that you're having a spelling bee on swear words at the table and that you made the punishment beneficial to you. Nice work!

sharry said...

so naughty...although there's something about the exclamation point and his attention to detail that i can't help but admire. at least it's all in context. :)

still, so, so naughty!

Dee said...

Thank guys. I'll try and get Mick to sand and varnish this spot. In the mean time I recon no one will really notice it unless I point it out.
Sharry you and Mum have it he's just a naughty boy.
Mick and I were talking later and we're going to get a police friend to come over for a visit when he is next in town and have a chat to Zac about property destruction and consequences. Can you imagine it, Officer Jack knocking on our door and asking for Zac. Priceless, He'll never see it coming.

Amelia said...

I had to smile when I saw this post. It may have reminded me of an incident I may or may not have been involved in in junior primary where a friend of mine may or may not of talked me into scratching some words into an outer wall of the classroom. Sally may have written "I love Luke". She had an after school carer named Mrs B.... and I may have been talked into writing "Mrs B.... is fat". Hmmmm, I may have gotten caught out because our teachers (like you) clued in to do a spelling test of "I love Luke" and my friend got caught and dobbed me in. My parents may have found out about it because the next morning when I was supposed to go to school I may have acted sick (and must have done a lame job of it) because Mum told me to get up and I point blank refused to and hid under the covers. I think my mum may have ended up going up to the school and may have even had to pay for the paint to cover the writing up. May be not ......
All I can say is that if my parents had gotten a police officer involved, I think it would have scarred me for life (more than I already am :)

Dee said...

Unlike you and your precious soul Mela Zac has no guilt issues so a copper visit just might be the thing to scare him straight.

sevencherubs said...

Classic! kids I tell you. They are just too funny when they try to cover up something they have done wrong. I so love how you dealt with the situation. Big pat on the back for you and mother of the year award for sure! Naomi x

Anonymous said...

Gotta hand it to you Teach, this was a classic and you handled it just right. So grown up and mature. :) If you know a friend with oil paint a little yellow ocre or burnt siena rubbed in will make the scratch disappear until you can redo the table. All that schooling on how to handle children is paying off, that and the fact that he is just so darn cute. Lol .....A/Dinah

Erica said...

So naughty. I so love how you dealt with the situation.

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