It's Just Semantics

Picture this lovely scenario. It’s dinner time. Like usual I yell out the annoying, but ritualistic “Dinner!” Within a few minutes Adam came in, then Kevin, then Kayla. But no Jordan. She was on the computer, which apparently was much more important than having dinner with the family. At first we calmly asked her to join us. Nothing. So we raised our voices. Still nothing. I’m sure we even tried the “You don’t know how good you have it. You have food and a family who love and value you…” You guessed it. Nothing. I have never been big on letting my emotions completely take over my behavior, probably because I feared the possibility of going too far. I have a list of inappropriate words that could fill...well, they could fill about 13 journals. I tried to maintain my self control. I have previously written that, yes, we occasionally smacked our kids' butts when they were younger. (I think I can actually feel an eye roll or two.) This was our parenting choice, and I have no regrets. If a child runs away from you and towards a busy street, I don’t think a smack on the butt is particularly damaging. This especially holds true if you have one child who tended to not even flinch, when you raised your voice. I’ll jump off my soapbox now. Back to dinnertime. We were at a complete standstill with our thirteen year old. Again. I have mixed feelings about my next course of action. I calmly tipped Jordan out of the computer chair. Actually the exact wording in my journal read, "I dumped her off the chair". Cringe. You'll never guess what happened. Without argument or attitude, she walked into the kitchen, apologized, and sat down to eat with us. Argh. Thank you. Us Too