Part Two

I have been reminded that I am remiss in following up on an earlier post titled From the Other Side.

In that post, I had commented on how Motivated Mom and I were desperately trying to keep from slipping into the worn out parent ultimatums such as you're grounded for life.

I promised a follow up on how we finally managed to keep such over reactionary statements out of our vocabulary.

We drafted a list of House Rules along with a list of Consequences if the rules are broken. Media Girl, Motivated Mom, and I all signed the document and it hangs on the refrigerator door.

Rules include such things as treating each other with love and respect, curfews, required chores, etc.

Consequences are listed in progressive order:
1st violation - loss of driving privileges for a week
2nd violation - loss of driving privileges for a week and loss of cell phone for a week
3rd violation - well, you get the idea

It works great. There's no angry outbursts, accusations, or reprisals.

We simply refer to the agreed upon document.