Are you really going to do that?

Experts say that you shouldn’t threaten your kids unless you are really going to go through with it. When you follow through with your punishment, you will see a change in your childs behaviour. All I have to say to that is, ha ha ha. What kind of children are they analysing? Lol. I don’t think the study was done in the past 20 years. Maybe they still have the old copy, when kids once listened to their parents and when a threat was a threat. When I was little and my mother threatened me, ie. If you don’t stop that silly behaviour then we are not going to Wonderland, then guess what? If i didn’t stop my silly behaviour, I DID NOT GO TO WONDERLAND! She didn’t care that she had promised to take me, and that we were all in the car, I wasn’t listening and now we all had to be punished. Birthday parties were the same. If she had originally allowed me to go to a friends’ party and I got in trouble at school, or at home. Then you can bet your ass that I wasn’t going to witness my friend blow out a candle, how can you see candles being blown out from your room? Those were the days when parents followed through with the threats. They didn’t care if they had to call that mother and let her know that “Diana will not be coming to Laura’s party anymore because she got in trouble at school.” Laura’s mother wasn’t judging my mother and thinking how mean she was, no, because that is what parents did. Followed through with a punishment. Laura’s mother would respond by saying, “No problem Mrs.Colosimo, I understand, did you give her a good beating too?”..lol. I have to admit that I am guilty of the non following through with threats syndrome. I will huff and puff and repeat and repeat and say, “If you guys don’t stop then we are not going to Nonna’s house.” The problem is, I want to go to Nonna’s, so if they screw it up for me then I don’t want to follow through with it. Sometimes, if we are on our way to a friends’ birthday party and I throw out the “If you guys don’t stop, I am turning around” line. They know damn well I won’t be turning around. Empty threats, that’s all they are. When my mother promised me a beating when we get home, you better believe I got the beating. There was no negotiating out of it. We don’t want to sacrifice our outings for their behaviours. My mother would just take the extra new time that she now had (thanks to my misbehaviour) to do a load of laundry or clean out the drawers. That was the way it was. A parent made the rules and the children obeyed them. They knew that if they cancelled our party or a trip to Wonderland we would still love them. Parents today are afraid that their kids will be mad at them and they may hate us forever and ever. We don’t want to be mean parents and let them miss out on anything they might have fun doing..what kind of parents would we be? Other parents like us will say, “you’re not really going to do that are you?” It is just easier to turn up the radio, drown out their screaming voices and pretend that you just didn’t hear them, because let’s be honest..Are we really going to turn around and go home? Probably not.
That’s my peace today!

Lentil Soup
1 can lentils
1/2 cup white rice
1/4 cup peas
2 carrots diced
1 white potato diced
1 tomato diced
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan, heat oil, add all the vegies, saute for about 5 minutes. Add 3-4 cups of water or stock (if you add stock you do not have to add salt), bring to boil. Lower to medium heat and cook for about 45 minutes. Raise heat again and add uncooked rice, boil for another 10 minutes.