Lucy is officially grounded for the first time. What is she grounded from, you ask? Is it friends? No. Is it sleepovers? No . . .we don't do those. Is it playtime? Again, no. What about TV? Computer? Video Games? No, no, and no. She is grounded from books. Yes, that's right. It's books. Do I know that you should never, ever, stifle your child's desire to read by using books as a punishment? Yes. Do I know that reading is fabulous and desirable and a great way to learn about the world? Yes.
However, I also know that she "forgets" to put down her books at night when she is supposed to be sleeping and ends up cranky the next day from lack of sleep. I know that we decided it was finally time to follow through and crack down on the stashes of books she keeps hidden in her room so that when we take away one book, she quickly pulls out another as soon as we leave the room. Friday night, I caught her reading a book after she was supposed to put it down. I asked her what a fair punishment would be and she came up with no books on Saturday. Saturday morning, she went to clean her room and got distracted by some books she found down there. Her will to obey quickly succumbed to the temptation and I found her down there reading instead of cleaning. Her idea for a punishment was, again, no books for the rest of the day and on Sunday.
This morning she secretly read a book before we knew she was awake. She is always scrupulously honest when I ask her if she did it, so she 'fessed up quickly and I reminded her of the punishment SHE came up with. Less than an hour later, Kye came upstairs complaining, "Mom, Lucy won't play a game with me because she's reading a book." I ran downstairs and found her in her closet, under the bottom shelf, surrounded by suitcases and bins (so no one would see her) with a book in hand. AHA! Caught again. She's now lost books (except the scriptures and the Friend magazine) for the next several days AND she lost the privilege to check out books at the library on Friday. Many tears and much wailing ensued, but I explained that she needed to understand there are consequences to our actions, etc. So, I've gotta ask, have any of you had to ground your children for reading too much? What are some alternative disciplines for this one? Any ideas?
13 years ago
4 comments:
Yup. Christian. If you ask me, the punishment fits the crime. Like you say, reading is good, but not when they stop functioning in other areas of life. I know some adults who are the same way so it's a good lesson to learn young. Hey, what a great trial though hu?
As Maddie pointed out after reading this over my shoulder (with the proper inflection), the love of reading runs in the family. I haven't actually grounded Maddie for reading (because that would mean that I would have to ground myself for reading when I should have been doing laundry or cleaning the bathroom or raking the leaves or cooking dinner or doing the dishes or recaulking the bathroom sink or cleaning the office or going to work or...oh you get the idea). But I have had to cancel a trip to the library or take away the book she is currently reading (she only rereads if she's thoroughly desperate). I love that they love to read, but it does pose some interesting problems.
I love that Lucy of yours.
Yes. But I've given up now and have decided there are worse things.
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