This past week we caught our daughter in a lie. She’s in first grade and last week had a bad week at school behavior wise. She was grounded from all technology over the labor day weekend. Tuesday she came home happy as can be that she was no longer grounded. She informed us that she was good at school that day, “No Notes!”.
That night, I was prepping her snack, note for the next day and opened her binder to find that she had a bad day at school. She had been playing and talking during her lesson time. She had lied to us. So she was grounded – 1 week for lying and then next week she will be grounded from technology but can attend dance, if she doesn’t get another note.
It’s crazy to think how technology heavy my 6-year ‘s life is. She loves her DS. She has a pre-paid cell phone (for family members only – she has to pay for the minutes – or Grandma does). She could play Webkinz or Nickjr.com from dusk to dawn. Her favorite thing to do is play Wii Sports Resort or Rockband.
Since all technolgoy is out the window – she is left with writing letters to family members or our World Vision girl, Maria. She has to make sure she does her chore (she moves laundry from wash to dryer and then out). Or she can read. In the evenings she has about 2 hours of free time to fill with these technology-less activities.
Mean? I hope not. I was telling a friend today of this, I am not sure how serious she was – but she said I was being too hard on a 6-year old.
I’ve been thinking about this off an on since our conversation. Am I being to strict? She is a very strong-willed child – and we had a rough run last year in Kindergarten with behavior. Since we are only 3 weeks in – we want to make sure we don’t have to deal with this all year long.
On the other hand, I think to myself – why can’t I be grounded. How nice would it be to not have any technology to be strapped to? I love my iphone. Twitter is fantabulous. Facebook is a sheer addiciton. Blogging is a stress-relief to me. BUT I do this stuff all day long for my job. Why can’t I be digitally disconnected. I want time to draw pictures and read. So maybe grounding her isn’t strict – but it’s also good for her.
Now the hard part. How do I digitally ground myself? Or more realistically. How do I find the balance between enjoying some free time doing this or that vs. how I currently am (addicted)?
In the mean time, I’ll be thinking of what bad thing I can do so my husband “grounds me”. If it were only that easy.
