I take the pledge of allegiance.....

no not to the United States of America, though I do love everything American! I'd be the ultimate consumer queen over there, when I worked at Hedleys I would read the American Woman's Day magazine just to drool over the ads LOL.

I take the pledge of allegiance to being a mean mummy....with Western I was the nice, bribing, giving in mummy and it didn't work. I learnt you give a kid an inch and they take a mile, (why am I using imperial words, I was born after metric came in!). I would bribe him to go shopping, to go to school, to do anything really and the end result was a room full of chaos and a kid who wants a reward every time he does something.
So with Ethan, I made a few changes, he hardly ever got bribes, (maybe chocolate sometimes) and he is a much more eager to please child. He does stuff for better reasons than wanting a new transformer or Lego set. He actually says "But I already have lots of those at home", which makes me wonder sometimes if he was swapped at birth in the hospital LOL. I'm a natural born collector ......of everything!
Any way I digress....what is the mean mummy pledge I hear you ask.

I found it in my new No 1 magazine Parenting, (funny how your taste changes over the years) Autumn 2011 issue.

It goes like this...

I pledge to:

• Get my kids to bed on time on school nights

Western asleep, while eating, at 4pm on his 5th birthday...he had been up since 4am!

• Limit the amount of caffeine, sugar and processed food my kids consume
• Limit the time my kids spend watching TV, playing PS2 and on the computer

The cousins play the PS2 at Auntie Rachels.

• be true to my word and follow through, e.g. "You can't watch TV until your room is clean" means "You can't watch TV until your room is clean"
• Demand my child show respect to teachers and other adults (they are pretty good at this now)
• know where my children are at all times...even when they become teenagers
• know who my kids are hanging out with...(even if it means they come here often and clean out my pantry)

Ethan's first school play date with Hunter and Connor.

• expect my children to do their best

Western came second in his section at Pet day with his crawlies.

• screen the movies, games and music my kids get to see and hear (no Rated movies, games or music!)
• discipline my children (even when my heart is breaking)

Western crying because he couldn't get his own way...is it wrong that I take these photos? LOL

• know that being mean will benefit my children in the long run. (I chant this during the tough moments)

I have been practising most of this over the holidays, and I found these four words "Because I love you" at the beginning of sentences really help me and them understand why they can or can't do stuff.

Loving that Parenting magazine right now!