So, we are back to that.

(WHOOPS...it was brought to my attention that all of my post didn't post! SORRY)

Certainly I am not the only parent that struggles with how much time the kids spend playing video games right?
It seems with my boys and girl for that matter... if you give them an inch they try take a mile. Then sometimes when we don't even give them an inch they steal a mile.

This happened yesterday. They stole a mile.

Let me give you a little back story, this will help you to better understand where we are at now.

We are BIG on teaching them responsibility and our children have chores. We all live in the same house therefore we are ALL responsible for keeping it clean. We do reward them for doing their chores. We don't give them money, we give them time.

Because they are hot to play video games ALL.THE.TIME. in exchange for doing their chores they get 30 minutes of video games per day. No chores, no play.  If they want more than 30 minutes they can do additional chores to earn more time. That simple right?

We have been using this system for a few years now and I think it is falling apart!

Well for the past month the children have been half a$$ing their chores and still expecting full compensation. Right. NOT.

So we put them on the 2 week plan. Before your gaming rights come back they have to complete their chores CORRECLY and COMPLETELY for 2 weeks. THEN they get their time back. If during that 2 week period you fail to do your chores or do them half a$$ you get reset.

Jake has gotten reset twice.
Kasey has gotten reset once (he only had 3 days left and he "forgot" to do his chores!)
Hannah has gotten reset once.

Here is where the stealing time comes into play.

Since Tom has been gone I am the only on getting on the main computer. I usually check e-mail from the laptop but I was in a hurry and my laptop wasn't turned on.  Wednesday AM I got on and checked my e-mail. So the last web site listed at the top should have been my e-mail web site. Well Thursday AM I looked at the list of web sites and Ohh lookie...runscape was at the top.

BUSTED.

The first thing I did was password the desktop computer. Yes, I know I should have done that a long time ago but I really don't like to lock my kids out of everything and stupid me thought I could trust the little snots. Which I know is stupid. Anyway when I asked Kasey about it yesterday here is how it played out:

Me: Hey who got on runscape?
K: What are you talking about?
Me: who got on runscape yesterday because the last web site I went to was not runescape.
K: I don't know. That's weird.
Me: Fess up, I know it was you I am not stupid.
At this point we go into a "I didn't do it" vs. a "YES you did" battle.

Finally he fesses up that he played before I got home from work. I questioned Jake and Hannah and apparently he has been doing it for a loooooooooooong time. Now, I always had a suspicion that he was doing it, but I have had a ton of other crap on my mind and thinking of checking the computer was an after thought.

I KNOW I could be dealing with a lot more major issues with my kids than video games. I know I should learn to pick my battles. But this isn't so much about video games than teaching them responsibility and them doing what is expected. they know what their chores are, I TYPED them out for them so they wouldn't forget. They are posted on the fridge. It ASTOUNDS me that they can "forget" to do their chores and YES even their homework! Jenn suggested that the next time they "forget" they should have to write them out over and over. I love that idea! I am also going to banish the TV during the week becuase they clearly cannot control themselves with that either and it is a major distraction.

So, we are back to a militant rule in our house. Which is odd since the only militant one in our family is gone LOL