YOU'RE GROUNDED

When you’re a child it seems like ‘You’re Grounded’ are your parent’s favorite words. You would swear that they just want to make your life miserable. When I was 12, I thought my mother was being unreasonable for grounding me when I had left the house and ridden to a friend’s house to play for hours without permission. I thought that I should be able to make my own decisions; I was almost a teenager after all. When I was 16, my folk’s busted me coming in hours after curfew and grounded me. I had been watching movies at a friend’s house, not out partying so I figured that she was just evil. 

So many things in life do a 180 degree turn when you become a parent. All those annoying habits that your parent’s had, you see them creeping up in your parenting style. Things like ‘I didn’t ask if you wanted to do your chores’ and ‘if I have to put the baby down, we are going to have problems’ start coming out of your mouth. Things you swore you would never do to your children become common place.

I have six children and their literally is not a day that goes by in which at least one of the children spends time in the corner or gets grounded. Even though I know that what I am doing is for their own good, I get so tired of having to be the bad guy all the time. Since we have such a large family, I expect them to do as they are told, the first time, and without mouthing off. If one of the kids gets away with talking disrespectfully, we could have a house overrun by children very quickly.

Being grounded in our house means several things. It means that you are not allowed to watch TV, play video games, play on the computer, have friends over, or talk on the phone. Being grounded also means that your chore list doubles. When you are not doing chores, you get to sit in the corner. And it doesn’t matter how old you are, if you are grounded, you have a bedtime of 7pm.

I really was one of those kids that said I would never make my kids bust their butts doing chores just because they made a mistake. However, I learned as I entered the real world that if my folk’s hadn’t taught me work ethic, I would not be even close to as happy and successful as I am today. So, Thank You Mom! And kiddos, I am not sorry, but I love you very much.