Thursday Talk: Balance

Today was terrible.  My migraine is back and overwhelming me.  I am stressed and fatigued.  I canceled school today.  I sat in my chair, kept the house like a cave and watched tv with my kiddos.

When Captain and Kidlet#1 got home, things went from bad to worse.  MissyKidlet and I got into it again.  I was irritable.  She was baiting.  And I had NO tolerance for it, at all.  Finally, I ‘hibernated’ in my bedroom under advisement from Captain.  I got to be in a cold, dark, quiet room…and MissyKidlet got to live to see her next birthday.

However, because I didn’t expect to do that, I didn’t follow my lists and make sure certain things got done before bedtime.  UGH!  There was one thing left undone, which the Captain brought up.  The line between consistent and mercy is so blurred sometimes. 

There were lots of arguments for mercy.  I left a water bottle on the end table next to my comfy living room chair.  Now, technically the rule is I cannot leave glasses or cups on the table overnight.  This was a water bottle.  Hmmm.  I also did not know I would be vacating the livingroom as suddenly as I did.  Hmmm.  I have a really bad migraine.  Hmmmm.

The situation generated a really good conversation between Captain and I about rules, consistency, and mercy.  At first I wasn’t much help at all.  I kept wavering in my arguments.  Self-preservation would kick in and I’d argue that I shouldn’t be spanked.  Then I would think about how much him being consistent means to me, so I would argue that I should be spanked.  For these immediate consequences, the spanking is several swats with the short cane, no warm up, short and stingy…which I really hate. 

In the end, we both agreed that yes, I should be spanked.  But Captain was merciful in his spanking, so it was super short and not too stingy.    

 

 

The key between consistency and mercy is BALANCE!  Who knew?!?!  I think Captain and I have a much better understanding of both now.