Wendy's Wonderings

It never pays to be dishonest...

I have to tell y'all what "Little Mark" did today. I almost feel a little guilty about it, so I am going to confess here, to you, my dear friends. :-)

We have instituted a new "responsibility chart" for him, because he was not completing his chores/school work. The new chart is spelled out for him, and I am not going to "nag" him to get it done. He either does it or he doesn't. But, if he doesn't then he gets NO privileges that day. No TV, Computer, electronics of any kind. If he does not have the weeks worth of school work finished by 3:00 pm on Friday then he does not get ANY electronics for the whole weekend. If it needs a plug or battery to work, then he better not even think about touching it.

Well, this morning his uncle realized he was spending a lot of time in the bathroom . So, after he left the bathroom I went in to fix my hair for church. I opened the drawer to grab my hairbrush, and guess what I found? That's right my friends, I found his Nintendo DS "hidden" in the drawer. He had been in the bathroom playing it.

SO, he was busted, and I almost opened my mouth to call him on it. But, then I had a better idea. I quietly went into his room and put it under some clothes in the second drawer of his dresser. The drawer that has clothing shoved into it that should be hung up. The one he rarely cleans out. Yeah, that one.

I didn't say a word to him about it all day. A little bit ago we heard him get out of bed and go to the bathroom, again. His uncle went to see if he was OK, and he replied that he needed to use the restroom, again. His uncle questioned him on why he still had on his glasses. "Little Marks" reply? "I have a little diarrhea, so I may be in here reading for awhile." Uh... yeah. Okay.

So, we left it at that. Then, we heard drawers being opened and closed, as if someone was looking for something. About 10 seconds later we heard the toilet flush and "Little Mark" went back to bed. I guess his tummy problem was suddenly healed. (Miracle!)

So, now I am wondering how long it will take him to 1) ask if we have seen his Nintendo, 2) admit where it was, 3) actual clean his room enough to find it.

As I said, I feel a little guilty about the whole thing, but I am praying this will be a good lesson in not only honesty, but responsibility for taking care of his things and keeping his room clean. And, the punishment? Well, he was supposed to get the Nintendo DS back tomorrow. All he had to do was wait 24 more hours. Now? Well.... we'll see how long it takes him to finally clean the dresser..... Tough love hurts.

Love,
Wendy Darling