A family meeting!

For about the last 3 years it has been customary for our family to hold "family meetings" about once every 6 months, which is about the length of time it takes for a mother to reach the end of her tether .... in our house. LOL! This is the forum where we rehash the ground rules and redefine the "rules of engagement". Sure I have my daily gripes, but it's kind of known around these parts of the world that "family meeting" always signifies the possibility of strike action, and that things have reached crisis stage..EISH! And so the talks resume. On Sunday night however, the family meeting was called by none other than, ahem.....our own offspring!...for the record...aged 7 and 9. At the time, I won't lie, I felt like a naughty child - that whole shoe on the other foot thing...EXACTLY! In hindsight, I'm starting to see the funny side of this "mutiny on the bounty" LOL!...it really was one of those "you had to be there moments"...but thought I'd just share a snippet of the what took place. PART of it went something like this....

The scene: DH and I are having an intense chat in the kitchen, about the discipline issues surrounding our offspring, whilst they are safely in the bath at the other end of the house. After a while, there's a knock at the double doors - 2 faces peer through the cottage pane glass - can they come in?

They enter the room and announce that a family meeting will take place shortly, but at the convenience of all of us, and when would we prefer to have it..."now or later" she asks???..(pencil and notebook in hand - clipboard style, looking very important). A bit stunned and caught off guard, we glance at each other and agree that now would be as good a time as any. So true to form we all take our seats at the dining room table, and the meeting is called to session.

Spokesperson (as usual) - Dominic "the know-it-all youngest".
Mediator (as usual) - Sabrina "the peacemaker eldest"

Meeting is opened by D who informs us all that whilst the children have called this meeting, we will ALL get a turn to speak - well that was a relief!...and then we can all "tell what we are happy about and not happy about" (clearly they've got the hang of this thing!...I've taught them well!)....pointing his finger...you start Mom.....needleesss to say I take the gap and I go ALLLLL OUT! He nods his head in agreement (too sweet), and with an inviting wave of the hand he says "And Mom now you can say what you are happy about"....Lin always talks about how important it is to build someone, so I did....I went BIG!...of course all the while my hidden agenda, hoping like HELL, that it would inspire them to new heights of stardom when it comes to the simple things that I continuously find myself nagging about. My session ends...(FINALLY they're thinking...giggle). Dom is next, and this is where it really got too cute. "Well .... I don't really like it when you two (pointing finger to mother and father) fight sometimes. Me...gulp. Father....starts to protest, and daughter taps him on the shoulder twice with her pencil and RAISES her EYEBROWS, places her pencil against her lips in a mock "be quiet" gesture and then very calmly and big person like says "Dad...sigh...it's NOT your turn to speak". She then turns to her brother and says "Dom it's also good for them to fight sometimes" after which her father siezes the opportunity to defend us and very 'plaintiff like' and dejectedly says "Yes but we hardly ever fight????"...the session continues, and after what we thought was a very constructive meeting, our son holds up 2 cards...the 6 of clubs, and the Ace of hearts and says (as if being sworn in) ...we promise to go from being the black naughty card, to being the good card with the one red heart......sigh....already they have learnt the art of negotiation, diplomacy and that "getting to the parents before they get to you, works every time!! LOL! My but the kids of today sure are streetwise!

Charmed Life point no 5 - TAKE TEN: Taking soul time every day is the antidote for the beleaguered. Attention given to the spirit produces energy, instead of only consuming it. The surest way to access this energy source is through silence, throughtaking a specified amount of time each day for meditation, prayer, journal writing or inspirational reading.