Benjamin Franklin is one of my idols. One of the reasons I admire him so much
is that he was constantly trying to better himself and was a forefather in the
self-help movement. He was also a
forefather of the sex advice column but that’s a whole other blog post. Franklin dedicated himself to living a
virtuous life…other than that time he fathered an illegitimate child. He kept himself accountable by using a
chart listing the 13 virtues and the days of week. At the end of the day he would review these 13 virtues and
put a mark by ones he felt he had not lived up to that day. I’m wondering what day of the week
had a check mark by “Don’t father an illegitimate child”. Anyway, Franklin has inspired me to try
a similar system of score keeping for parental wins and fails. Here’s what one day would look like…
Gave Hudson a hug when he whined for cereal and chocolate
milk first thing upon awakening.
No meltdown. +1
Meltdown over Hudson whining for cereal and chocolate milk
first thing upon awakening. -1
Told Hudson we could do anything he wanted this afternoon
and he chose going to the bookstore.
Have instilled love of literacy.
+1
Realize now that I have brainwashed Hudson into liking the
bookstore with purchase of cookie and chocolate milk from café at the end of
every trip. -1
Kenzie successfully sat in time-our for two minutes without
attempt to run away. This is a
result of my spectacular parenting skills. +1
Kenzie trying to eat fishing game pieces repeatedly (leading
to previously mentioned time-out) result of lack of proper parental
supervision. -1
Let kids eat hot dogs and chicken McNuggets both on the same
day. -1
Made homemade cheese crackers with Hudson +100
(At this point you may be thinking the scoring seems kind of
arbitrary, but look, I didn’t make up the rules. I just follow them.)
(Yes, ok, I totally made them up. I refer you to Day of Eating Awesomeness where I do what I
want.)
Lying -100
Realize Hudson wore the same pair of dirty sock 2 days in a
row. -1
Remembered to change his underwear. +1
Read Kenzie a bedtime story, sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little
Star, kept Kenzie from eating bedtime story +1
Hudson picked the longest bedtime story he could find and I
read the whole thing without skipping parts. +1
Snuggled one extra minute +1
If you’re keeping score, I’m slightly ahead. In this game, I’d say that’s good
enough. I’ll consider it a
win. It’s a win because I say so
and I do what I want.
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It's a good book. You should read it. |
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