Yesterday was a challenging day for my 10 year old and me.  Not the whole day, but everytime I asked him to do something - to help out around the house or clean up a mess of his.

As I closed my eyes and started to yell, I thought of my friend Monica who had just written me a letter.  She has her kids do this!  My mouth, I'm sure, twisted around like someone yelling N-O! in slow motion, but instead came out -

 "Give me 15 push-ups for your smart mouth." 

"WHAT?"

"Yup, you heard me - 15 right now!"

Well about 1/2 way through he had another 5 added on for laughing about how stupid this was.  He got another 5 last night for refusing to wipe down the table outside for dinner AND lost his computer (his dad) and another 5 this morning. 

WOW, not only am I going to help him out in gym class (he told me he was the worse kid at push-ups) I can punish and not yell and no one can report me for child abuse!!  WOO HOO

Sorry folks, I'm not that mean - but I'll tell you, the "I don't have to do that" attitude may be allowed elsewhere, but not here!