Victory!!

Well after the soccer debacle of last week, Patrick and I decided that extreme action was needed to correct Karsten's attitude about soccer.  You see, I know my son.  His attitude had more to do with the fact that throwing tantrums was getting him his way than the fact that he truly didn't want to play soccer.  I felt like I needed to nip this in the bud, as I was taught and still believe, that once you commit to something, you don't just give up because it's hard, or not what you expected.  Yeah, he had a bit of a disappointing setback when he wasn't "as good" as the other kids, but you don't quit just because you're not "as good",  especially when you're four.  Getting him involved in soccer was supposed to be a fun diversion, who would've known it would become such a life lesson?

I felt that if I gave in to the tantrums and let him quit, we'd be setting him up for a lifetime of quitting when the going gets tough. That just goes against my grain.  So what we decided to do was ground him. Yes, we grounded a four year old.  After soccer practice last Wednesday, we told him he would not be allowed to play any form of video game (since that's his current addiction - ick) for an entire week. Period.  At the end of that week is the next soccer practice and IF he participated and listened to the coach at soccer practice, he would be allowed to have video games back.

It was a rough week, understandably.  I'm not the most consistent parent but I stuck fast to this.  I even told my sister, when she watched him on Tuesday, that he was not allowed to play video games, period.  He had a lot of meltdowns, but I put a makeshift calendar on the fridge that we could use to mark down the days until soccer practice and it seemed to help a bit, though it was touch and go.

Today when I dropped him off (we decided to remove ourselves from the situation in an effort to help, he always behaves better away from us) I was full of anxiety.  I explained what we were doing to the coach and then I left to run an errand.  We came back a few minutes before practice was over and I almost wept at the joy of seeing Karsten out on the field, looking like he was enjoying himself.  No, he wasn't playing hard or going after the ball but he was ON THE FIELD and HAVING FUN! That was a huge victory for me. Some of the other parents who were aware of our struggles reassured me that he was an absolute angel and looked like he was having fun the whole time.  We lavished praise on him and took him out to ice cream (and let him play the Wii for a bit) and he's EXCITED about the game on Saturday.

I guess it feels like a huge win for us that we actually stuck to a discipline AND it worked.  I'm seriously floating right now!!

And just to be fun, I got this off Vanessa's blog:

Your Issue Profile: 76% Obama, 24% McCain

While it sounds like Obama is the choice for you, he's not a perfect match. You and John McCain actually share some of the same views. Whether this is news to your or not, you have some studying to do. Obama seems like he's the right fit, but it's an important issue might sway you over to McCain.

Should You Vote for Obama or McCain?

No Surprise there! :)