Last week, I kicked our 8 year old out of the family. I\u2019d had enough of his whining and complaining. I was done arguing with him, so he was out.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI hate doing schoolwork. I wish school didn\u2019t exist. I don\u2019t want to work. I just want to play, and I hate this family.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, I picked him up and carried him out onto the front porch and locked the door behind him. We have other children, what\u2019s one more or less?<\/p>\n
I opened the door and handed him his shoes. I thought he might need them on his way to his new life. He wasn\u2019t mine anymore, but that was no reason for him to be barefoot in the cold.<\/p>\n
He sat on the curb and wailed and cried at the top of his lungs. I\u2019m not sure he was really that heart-broken, he was mad, and when he gets mad he wails. He\u2019s always been a wailer, but it has gotten better as he has gotten older. Maybe by the time he\u2019s 50, he won\u2019t do it anymore.<\/p>\n
My next door neighbor called me and said, \u201cWhy is #2 sitting on the curb and crying?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I kicked him out of our family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, alright.\u201d<\/p>\n
Have I mentioned that I love my neighbor? She thinks my parenting style is amusing rather than abusive.<\/p>\n
A bit later, he came and knocked on the door and said, \u201cI\u2019m ready to be part of our family again.\u201d<\/p>\n
I brought him in and announced to his siblings, \u201cWe have our very first voluntary family member. The rest of you got stuck with us, but #2 chose us out of all the families in the world.\u201d The other children, sharing their mother\u2019s sense of humor, cheered, whistled, and clapped. They welcomed him to the fold.<\/p>\n
Just as I was patting myself on the back for my good parenting skills, he looked up at me and said, \u201cDon\u2019t get too excited, Mom. I just couldn\u2019t figure out how to get to anyone else\u2019s house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sounds like love to me!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last week, I kicked our 8 year old out of the family. I\u2019d had enough of his whining and complaining. I was done arguing with him, so he was out. He said: \u201cI hate doing schoolwork. I wish school didn\u2019t exist. I don\u2019t want to work. I just want to play, and I hate this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n