Day one, the boys did mostly well with the lack of electronics and the increased focus on schoolwork. They were, however, in different places, and thus didn’t have a chance to fight, and had serious one-on-one focus. Still, neither finished their work completely.
Day two (Friday) went less well. The Captain called me at work twice to complain about having to do “so much work”. Frustrated, I allowed them to stop where they were at 1pm or so, and said I would work with them later.
Friday night, The Admiral took them out for a board game / card game night at the library, which apparently went well until The Captain did not win a match and thought he was being ganged up on in the game by the other kids. He called and asked me to pick him up, an hour before the end. He was frustrated and angry, but it didn’t last too long.
Saturday, both boys were very good in the morning, very cooperative and positive. We had a cousin’s birthday party to attend, and they both were rather well behaved, save for one small moment of fighting.
When we got home, instead of rushing home to use their 1/2 hour of electronics for the week (which I had actually upped to 1 hour because they had been pretty good), they played outside for a long time with the hose, spraying each, without fighting a bit.
When it came time for electronics, they weren’t sure what to do with their time because the time was so short. They used the computer a bit, and shared some time watching a show on Netflix. They didn’t whine or complain much when the time was over.
Later, we had the grandparents over unexpectedly for dinner, so we all rushed to straighten the house, and then they had a great rest of the evening. They also watched an episode of a documentary show about birds (David Attenborough – The Life of Birds) while the grown-ups were talking.
Bedtime was easy with the assistance of the melatonin, and instead it was the older brother who kept coming out of his room with this excuse or another. We realized that because of The Captain’s fiery tantrums and overall stress inducement, we often overlook the mild bad behavior of his brother, because it is a welcome relief.
Sunday went almost as well. The Captain woke up early and washed dishes and otherwise cleaned happily, without being asked to. I can’t tell if he really did it to be nice, or if he was trying to get some measure of electronics back. After his morning risperdone nap, he got stuck in the mindset of whining “There’s nothing to do!” etc. etc.
We managed to keep busy the rest of the day with other distractions, and more documentaries, and actually watched a movie with them in the evening. The Captain did not want to go to bed, but did not put up much of a fight.
Adjust Our Sails 