Alice's First Grounding

Le sigh. It finally happened. Alice did something that needed a harsher than usual punishment. She is grounded from her art supplies and tv for a week. We had to do this because she chose to combine the two early this morning.

Alice tends to get up before Mike and I on the weekend. She likes to get up and watch tv and wake up Jane and talk to Jane while she is in the crib. Before Jane she would wake up and watch tv or colour or play with her toys then come get one of us if we were still asleep by the time she was ready for breakfast.

This morning was no different at first. She was up before Mike or I. We had had a busy day yesterday. Mike worked the Niagara wedding show then came straight to my dad's for Willow's first birthday. I had the day with the kids and Willow's birthday party and then I went out with my sister late last night. We slept in until around quarter after seven. (yes, that is sleeping in)

When we got up Alice had her usual parade of toys in the living room leading to her room. Jane was ready for her bottle and demanding another diaper change. Mike was getting ready to film a wedding today. The tv wasn't on. Not that unusual. Didn't think anything of it until I was sitting feeding Jane on my couch and Mike was ready to head out the door.

He saw something in the corner of his eye and looked at the tv. There were colourful scratches on it. Our tv is a 46' Sony Bravia LED tv. It's not cheap. We had been putting money aside for this purchase for a while now. From where I sat, it almost looked like maybe my sewing kit had been picked up by static electricity and maybe it was thread on the tv. Mike was right in front of the tv and could see it much more clearly.

He reached onto the ottoman (thanks mom and Randy!) for one of Alice's shrinky dink pencil crayons. He held it to the tv and tried to draw. Nothing happened when he pressed lightly. No mark showed up until more pressure was placed on it. It was official. Alice drew on our tv.

We called Alice out of her room. She was in her princess/fairy sparkle pyjamas and was wearing the tiara she made and decorated last night. It was so hard to be stern when she walked unwittingly into the lion's den. We asked her in a tone that made her know that trouble was brewing if she had drawn on the tv. She thought for a few seconds and then told us she did. I must give her credit for being honest - it's not easy to own up to something when you know you're going to get into trouble.

We asked her why she did it. She didn't have a reason. We asked her to think long and hard about it. We wanted to know if there was maybe a hidden issue that made her act out. Something we could take into consideration while choosing her punishment. She had none.

The end result is that she is grounded from her art supplies and tv for one week. She was also sent to her room while we figured out if we could clean the tv off. No sense keeping her in the room for us to lash out at while figuring out if our tv was ok or not. Luckily everything wiped off and there is no sign of anything having been on it.

Mike had to leave for work shortly after he cleaned the tv. I went to Alice's room to see again if she had a reason for drawing on the tv. Even as an infant and toddler the worst she ever did was draw three lines on the bottom of a dresser. She still had no reason. She asked why she was grounded when she told the truth. I explained to her that even though she told the truth, she still did something bad. I also explained to her that we are happy she told the truth, otherwise she would have been grounded longer. She seemed to understand it. I guess the next time we need the truth about something, we shall see if she will still do so knowing that she might still get punished.

Today has been hard. It's only day one. It's only 6pm. Alice has read every book she knows how to read by herself. She has played with every toy she owns. I have read about 20 books to her. She decided to go to bed at 5pm. She really wants to draw. She doesn't even care about the tv. She's allowed to see whatever I am watching, but she has no choice in shows. She must also leave the room when certain shows I watch would normally be something she would choose - luckily those come on about half an hour before bedtime so I could easily skip them.

I feel so bad. Day one is horrible. Day two will be a bit better. It's a PD day, so no school, but Mike will be home and we have some running around to do - including a trip to the toy store to pick up a present for her friend and a trip to my mom's to see my step-dad for a belated birthday mini celebration...and eat the cake my mom made for him.

We are also bringing home an exersaucer for Jane...so Alice will have fun playing with that with Jane. She used to show Willow how to play with the items on it, so chances are she'll do the same for her sister. It will also be easier on me tomorrow as Mike will be home to either watch Jane or read to Alice. It's a lot of work to keep Jane happy while playing with Alice.

I'm hoping to enact the 5 day week in this punishment. Alice is only 5. I'm sure she'll have learned her lesson by at least day three. We shall see how it goes.

This is without a doubt the hardest thing I have had to do as a parent so far.