Idle Threats

In motherhood, I have learned very quickly that idle threats do NOT work. That is true even more now than ever. We are getting family pictures taken tomorrow & I had to run out to get a couple more things because heaven forbid we don't match exactly in our first real family picture. This is where my OCD kicks in. We did last minute haircuts for Noah & Jasmine & things were NOT good with two of the little ones then. A prudent mother would have gone straight home-not me. I'm stubborn, controlling, & don't care if everyone in the tri-state area is staring at us. We made it into Target without incident. Once inside, we had gotten everything we needed-Isaac asked if we could look at the toys. He knew we weren't going to get anything but could we just please, please, please look? Once again, a prudent mother would have gotten out while everyone was still in one piece. I cannot say no to Isaac-there is just something in his chemical makeup that turns me into mush & HE KNOWS IT. I threatened each child with a punishment near death if they touched anything, asked for anything, or threw a fit about not getting something. They all smiled, nodded, & with their best faces on said they would never, ever even think about doing those things. Well, you all know where this is going. Brian's threat was to have to hold my hand if he touched things. I gave him a three strike rule tonight-I was feeling a little graceful. Of course ,he actually touched about 243 things before I actually carried through on my threat. So...picture this. One small child inside the cart screaming; me holding one child's hand while he clawed at me, screamed at the top of his lungs, and drug his feet; one other poor child crying because it was "too loud" & two other kids oblivious to everything around them just hoping that maybe, just maybe mom (in a moment of crisis) will give in and get us something. Wow-my head still hurts from all the screaming! The obvious answer to this dilemma is don't do this to myself & the children. Well-we'll at least match for our picture tomorrow!