Morning Y'all,
Come on weekend!!

Morning

30degrees and snow flurries today. Stupid weather.

Probably going to change the oil in the Suquinox today. Not 5000 miles but it's been about 4 months.

Hi guys. Winter weather in late April blows. Hopefully, you'll be back to Spring soon, Wayne. It's been a nutty year, so far.

Just one more Monday (today) and I can ditch this place for a while. I can't believe I'm excited to work most of the upcoming week on house projects. I'm developing some mental issues after being in DC so long. :eek:

DC will do that to a guy!

Good Thursday morning folks!

I noticed it was kinda cool in the building when I came in to work. I looked at the thermostat and is is dead. No display at all. That is not good. I guess it is time for a trip to the attic to see what is going on.

I dig weekends because I don't have to try to get the boy out of bed, dressed, washed, and ready for school. He is NOT a morning person.:(

It's like wrestling a wild monkey.

Good Morning

My dad only had to pull the covers back and throw a pan full of cold water on me once, then I got up and out of bed when he told me the first time.

Thought about that, Richard. Not sure it would help, though. Keeping him focused on what he needs to do is the real problem. It's a struggle for me(us) daily. I absolutely refuse to use his ADD/ADHD/Asbergers,etc as an excuse. :(


My Dad used to stand at the bottom of the stairs and holler our names. You didn't WANT him to have to come upstairs and get you. We weren't sure what would happen but we figured it wouldn't be a good thing.

When I was a kid, the fear of belt was way stronger than any of those new fangled short attention span excuses.

Was at a hardware store one day waiting in line to check out. There was a kid going between different lawn chairs on display sitting on them and swinging his legs. His dad yelled at him to get off those chairs and come over to him. The kid didn't change is focus one bit. Dad yelled he was going to count to 10 and if he didn't stop and come to him, he would tan his hide. The kid just kept swinging his legs. Dad started counting. Kid did not change or even acknowledge that he had heard his dad until dad got to 9. Then the kid immediately hopped off the chair and ran over to his dad.

I turned and asked, what would have happened if you would have lowered the count or told him that if you had to tell him again he would get his hide tanned? The dad just glared at me.

My dad alway just said "Don't make me tell you again." That was the last warning before punishment if you didn't react quick enough. Mom always just said "Don't make me get the switch."

I only remember pushing that limit once for each of them.

Ah, the good old days when you could use fear as a tactic. Heaven forbid you threaten to spank your kids now.

My wife and I are pretty old school in raising our kids. Both know when they've pushed me or Mom to the edge. Sometimes an in-your-face interaction is what it takes.

That being said, my son struggles and it's not something that can be fixed by us. I am probably harder on him than some parents would be but I just want him to be a good person and be able to take care of himself.

Going to the garage to play now. Later on fellas!

I have gotten even with the rock star of the house a few times. He will stay up late and make noise on nights I have to get up early for work or some other task. Seems I can't be quite at 6:00am......at all.

Indian food yesterday....anal napalm today...

I am not a morning person unless that means still up from the night before. I can get up early for fishing or hunting pretty good. Our son (5) is not a morning person but gets up early anyway and then complains about it. We're like "Dude, sleep in and you won't be tired".

Richard, I am not sure the cold water would do it for me. I once slept through dad going off the road through the ditch and into a post. That was in the front seat no shoulder belt days.

We don't have a good Indian food place around here.

We have spanked a couple times and now all I have to say is if they don't do whatever it is that needs done I am going to spank them and it gets done for the most part. If it is a long task they can still get distracted. I have used the counting thing and I do count up to ten but he has to be out of his clothes and into his pajamas by the time I get to 10.

I got spanked a lot as a kid.....I was a bad little bastard

Spanking, done right, is a very useful tool.

Can't be a wussy parent and you can't beat the kid...but just enough...

All my dad had to do was get out his belt and hang it on over the door knob. We knew it was time to behave!

My brother-in-law was a kid that was spanked regularly. He was one of the boys that just never cried. Even with broken bones and bike crashes and skinned up knees and elbows. My wife was the older sister and almost never got in trouble. She said one day she saw her brother getting yet another spanking and he was crying a little. My wife was amazed and after the spanking she asked him about it and in front of their mom he admitted he only cried because he figured his mom's arm was getting tired and he figured she would quit if he cried. :eek:

After that point the only punishment was no desert or extra chores, spanking was pointless.

Of course I was a model child. The kid that the other parents pointed to and asked their kids why they can't be good like me. My parents both are spinning in their graves I suspect.

Thanks guys. It's nice to know the old school is alive and well. My son is 11 so I think spanking would not be the right thing. My daughter can be a real handful. Apparently, she was given mostly MY genes. She doesn't take any crap from her brother anymore. I keep warning him that he's going to pi$$ her off good one of these days and she'll smack him good.


I wouldn't trade for anything.

My Dad never laid a hand on us and I deserved it many times. My Mom, though, had a belt that she wasn't afraid to use. I was on the receiving end ALOT.



My folks raised 6 kids(lost 1 at age 17, car crash) and were married for 47 years until my Dad passed away. If they can get through THAT we can do this.

Use a 3/8 in dowel. It stings, it won't leave a mark, and it will break before you can hit hard enough to do any damage (if you get too angry and lose it).

My Dad used his belt.

We had 4 big vacant lots behind our house that all the neighborhood kids played in. Half of it belonged to Dad. Dad was the adult in charge.

He even used his belt on neighbor kids that cause problems. And did it in front of their parents if he took the kid home and the parents sounded like they didn't care what their kid did. Told the parents any time he saw or heard about their kid causing problems with the other kids he would do it again. Most of the kids shaped up quick.

On one occasion when a kid stole my cap rifle and the parents tried tell my Dad it was their kid's. Dad got as pissed off as I ever saw him The threatened to use his belt on the kid's parents as he showed them my name on the rifle. Man, they were really scared! The kid lived 3 blocks away and never showed up again.

Bullies did not last very long in our neighborhood.

After my dad passed and I had to start being the enforcer I told the kids if I caught them acting up I would beat them silly. They told me they would tell on me and I would get arrested for child abuse. I told them just do it again and see what happens. That it would be my first offense and is a $25 fine, and I think it would be worth it. Never had to touch one of them.

One day the kids were playing in the lots and I was sharpening my chain saw to trim the fruit trees. One of the neighbors saw them pick some fruit and throw it at each other. She told them those trees belonged to those people in that house and pointed at our house. Then she said the lady that lives there is real nice, but her son is crazy, not telling what he will do. About that time I walked out of our equipment shed starting the chain saw. I heard a bunch of kids screaming and they all ran off. The neighbor lady was laughing hysterically. For the next year the neighborhood kids watched me like a hawk any time I was outside.

Usually after the first swat our kids got it. Our 13 year old gets grounded now as it is more effective. Extra chores does it as well.

Richard, too bad you didn't have a mask handy that day.

Raised my nephew from when he was 13 until almost 16. He was back talking to his grandmother one day soon after we got him. He was sitting in a chair with is right foot crossed and under his left leg, as he usually did. His feet stunk and it was beginning to make the furniture smell like is right foot.

After he back talked I told him if he didn't start treating her right, I would spank him. He laughed at me and said you can't hurt me. I told him it wasn't about hurting and asked if he wanted to learn why spanking works. He said yes.

Told him about his habit of sitting on his stinky right foot and if he noticed it was stinking up the furniture. He said yes. Told him to take his right foot out from under himself and slap it as hard as he could, then put it on the floor. He kinda laughed, but to show off he slapped his foot hard leaving a red imprint of his had, then slammed it foot down on the floor. I just said "Good, now wait."

It wasn't 3 minutes until he lifted up his right foot and as he started to put it under himself he stopped and looked at his foot. I immediately said, "See there. Your brain forgot you didn't really want to put your foot on the furniture, but your foot remembered what happened the last time and stopped you." He quit sitting on his foot.

He spent more time trying to get out of doing things than if he would just do them. Ended up killing him. Did wonder's. Told him if he did that again I would kill him. He did it again, I immediately said, "You're dead." Then totally ignored him like he didn't exist. Didn't fix food for him when I cooked. Didn't answer his questions or talk to him. When I left the room or went to bed I turned everything off including the lights and TV.

The first week he thought it was funny. The second week he kept asking what was wrong with me. The third week he tried to find out what HE could do to fix it. He finally apologized and started acting right.

richard-you've GOT to share the rest of the story..unless you are serious.


Grounding works pretty well for us. Taking Jake's tablet away is a good tactic as well.

Sarah absolutely hates being grounded to her room. She asked for a TV in her room for her recent birthday so that she would have something to do when she got grounded. Yeah, we went over the definition of grounding with her.

Neither kid has a TV in their room. Man, we weren't even allowed to have food in our rooms!


hey, how come you guys aren't workin', anyway?