New Wave Punishing

With just a few days into Kindergarten Noa' has already managed to make her mark as Ambassador Chatty Patty Talkington. Within her Kindergarten class each child is issued a packet containing five cards: 2 green, yellow, blue and red. Every child begins the day with a green card and they have to work towards a goal of keeping the green card throughout the day and hopefully the week to make that illustrious trip to Kindergarten Mecca; The Prize Box. However if a child has "difficulty" following the class rules their cards are pulled in the sequence they are placed with more substantial consequences associated with each color.

My lovely daughter is very boisterous and has that unnerving habit of saying whats on her mind as soon as it pops into her head. There's no "hmmmm lemme think about this before I blurt it out" or a polite moment of waiting for someone else to finish their thought; she "HAS TO SAY WHAT SHE HAS TO SAY WHEN SHE HAS TO SAY IT MOMMY!" So needless to say 3 days in Noa' has managed to get two yellows and one blue. When asked why the first time she explained to me that "the talk wouldn't stay down in her throat and kept tickling her to come out. So I can imagine that when it did come out it escalated into a slight "Roarrrrrrrrr"being that she was suppressing it as much as she could. The next offense was having to tell the teacher that her method of washing hands was incorrect. "Mommy I told her that you need to shake your hands in the sink first and then turn the water off, there's no other way to do it. But she thought I should do it differently and well I can't do that!" So she lost her card privilege for not only mouthing off but also for not listening. The third offense took the cake because she insisted that she wasn't the type of girl to be second in line. According to her she had to let her friend behind her know that this teacher is crazy for not letting her lead her class in line when leaving the lunchroom and even went as far as to make the crazy hand gesture with her pointer circling around the side of her head and a good ole hearty eye roll in the teachers direction. That day she was adorned with her blue card proudly I'm sure.

So with each of these offenses I had to think of a way to get her to understand the importance of listening as well as learning to respect her teacher. How could I do this I thought and that bright yellow bulb popped up atop my head. I will make her write 8 times "I WILL NOT TALK IN CLASS" and as a twist I told her I would post it up on Facebook for the world to see, even President Obama! When I expressed this to her she gave me a really peculiar look. I wasn't sure if she was gonna cry or suggest that "she was sorry and she didn't speak Spanish." Instead she said OK Mommy I'll do it but I have to hurry up because I don't want to miss Good Luck Charlie. But as she started writing, I'd say by number 3 she looked at me and said, "Does Obama really have to see this mommy? My hands are starting to hurt and this is the Good Luck Charlie when she's pooting so I really have to stop now. That was my in! Missing Good Luck Charlie would be a great lesson learned. And as I insisted she kept going she stopped about every 3rd word to exclaim that she's "missing her show and isn't going to be my friend if she misses it!"

We got through the punishment and I kept my promise of posting it for the world and President Obama to see. She also missed the episode of Good Luck Charlie and decided not to be my friend for the rest of the evening and I lovingly answered "News Flash I'm Your Mother!" Each night after her bath we read a book and say our prayers and she asked that night for God to "Help her keep the talk down in her belly because she has to get up to 100 silly bands" God must of heard her prayer because the next day she proudly met me at the door of her after school program yelling. "I DID IT! I HAD GREEN ALL DAY AND IT WAS THE FIRST GREEN CARD TOO MOMMY! And I couldn't of been prouder!