And the Other Shoe Has Dropped

This morning it all caught up to us.  Certain children didn't fall asleep until way too late last night, and as a result we had a few trips to crazy town this morning before school.  Thankfully, they all made it to the bus, even if it did look a bit iffy at times.

The big catalyst for Grace's mega-meltdown?  Wanting to bring her iPod on the bus to have something to play with so she wasn't bored.  After I told her no, it was bad news bears for a while.  The only good thing to come out of this morning's antics was my renewed resolve to finally sit down and do some thinking and researching and praying to figure out what exactly our new Family Rules should be for electronics now that Ethan and Grace both have their own personal devices.

Over the weekend, I had a stroke of inspiration with the idea of using a permit vs. license analogy for them to use with their iPods.  Ethan in particular REALLY hates this idea, but I think it's fantastic.  In theory.  It's the actuality that's been hard to enforce, since we're kind of figuring things out as we go along with this whole personal electronic device thing.  But like I said, this morning was the final push I needed to just sit down and write out some rules.

After doing lots and lots of reading, I finally put pen to paper to come up with OUR family rules, and as I did so, the first thing that came to my mind was from the 13th Article of Faith -- "If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praise-worthy, we seek after these things."  Immediately, I felt peace.  THIS sentiment is precisely what should govern the use of electronics in our house.  After jotting down this foundational piece, the bullet points came to me fairly quickly and I was able to give Scott a call and go over it with him and get his input before Alex woke up from his nap and the kids got home from school.  And then -- since I'm on SUCH a roll of making posters -- I was able to whip these puppies up while the kids were enjoying their "free time."  Hahahaha.

The initial reaction from Ethan at least was to try and rip them up because he hates almost every rule on them.  But after having a little chat with him tonight when the others were in bed, I think he is finally accepting of the fact that we're not just coming up with arbitrary rules to make his life miserable -- we are trying to keep them safe and protect them and TEACH them how to use technology (and our time) wisely. 

And that is that!  Hopefully, the early bedtime that everyone earned tonight will result in much happier spirits in the morning.  :)  Thank you and goodnight!

Sophie's turn for breathing problems!  Yay!  Hahaha.  Poor little lamb got off the bus this afternoon with a beet red face and crying that she was having a hard time breathing.  After eating a snack, taking some Claritin, and doing a breathing treatment, she was good to go.  Thank goodness!