More tough lessons

Vern has been having another tough weekend. He was extremely naughty in church today. First I have him what little change I had in my purse so he could get some fruit from the breakfast they were having for Stephen Ministries. What does he do? He goes into the breakfast and gets a PLATE of food.  After a few minutes we go pull him out of there and are upset with him for disobeying and getting so much food. (He just had multiple pancakes at home less than an hour earlier.)  We go into church and come to find out he didn't turn in the money for his fruit but decided he needed it more! Now we are really upset with him. He is very disrespectful in church and gets a talking to when we get home. He aplogized to God.  Then after piano he had to read the Bible for an hour! I made him read Proverbs and associated some of those to what had happened to him during the day.  He knew he had to shape up in the afternoon or he was not going to get to go to his Boy Scout Banquet.  He did shape up so we went to hig Banquet and had a good time. Here are a couple pictures. He passed his Bear and got a badge and a pin tonight. We also had a nice dinner.

Blue & Gold Banquet

Vern and John (my Eagle Scout)

Boys in his den.

The weekend aftermath...

The call came in around 4pm.

"Do you have a minute to chat?" she says in her nicest teacher voice.

"Sure" I reply wondering what Vern did this time.

"Vern had some trouble at lunch today. A little girl tattled on him."

"What was he doing?" I inquire.

"He was making inappropriate body parts out of his bread. This was not the only incident. Vern seems to just not be himself today. He seems off or something. He was given a think sheet to bring home for you to sign. I just thought I had better give you a call on this."

"Thank you very much for letting me know. I will talk to him this evening about everything."


(Sideline to this story - I did have a talk with him but I must give credit to my HERO. I will call him SuperMan. He worked really hard with him all evening and made a huge difference. Thanks Superman!)

A tough weekend...

Poor Vern had a tough weekend. He has been having a difficult time again. He is having trouble listening and following directions.  No type of punishment seems to work. Rewards do not seem to work. It is frustrating for both him and me.

After his constant begging, backtalk, ignoring and general non-compliance I was at the breaking point.  We were coming back from piano lessons and it started again. I warned him over 3 times with no luck...

So I pulled off to the side of the road.
Hauled his little butt out of the car.
His eyes were the size of saucers as we proceeded to the nearest snowbank.
I bent him over and shoved the top of his head in the snowbank. (No hat)
The crying commenced as he high-tailed it back to the car.
He FLEW into the backseat and slammed the door.

I told him any more of that behavior and worse would follow.

Funny - he shaped up after that.

Perfect for a 9yr old boy - Gross for the rest of us...

Vern rarely talks to me on the phone. The other two will chatter away but Vern will only begrudingly talk if I force him to. Then it will consist of only short quick answers followed by a bye mom - click before anything else.

Yesterday something was up. He asked to talk to me when he got home from school. I was stunned. It went something like this.

"Hi Vern, how was your day?"
"Fine. Mom guess what? I had diahrea at school. I mean it was a lot and it EXPLODED out my butt." He went on with some more details I will leave out as you get the jist of his excitement and how absolutely awesome this was for him.
"How are you feeling now?"
"Oh, Ok I guess. Can I still go to wrestling?"
"Yes as long as no more bathroom trips."
"Great, hey mom can I stay home from school tomorrow?"
"Let's see how you feel first ok?"
"Ok, bye mom." Click...

I slowly remove the phone from my ear and stare at it in disbelieve. That's my Vern.

Mean kid strikes again

Vern comes home upset last night. That boy is really lovey and soft hearted inside but he likes to play Mr. Tough Guy.  He told me "someone" told him he was bad at wrestling and he should quit.

I ask him, "was it another kid?"
"Yes"
"Is this kid in your wrestling class?"
"yes"
"Well then he is just jealous of you and trying to cause problems. Unless a teacher says you need to improve just keep doing your best and things will work out."
"But he was following me Mommmm"
"Then you just ignore him." (Impossible for my Vern)
"Ok." (followed by a sigh)

The tough life of a kid. I hope Da mom helped a little bit.