Reality check

In my house, we occasionally have what I call "reality checks". These happen when my girls have pushed their limits and need a little wake-up call, time to get their poop in a group and get a handle on themselves. The "reality checks" aren't partial to any specific age and each girl is blessed to have one of their own now and then.

So apparently my 14-year-old thinks she's pretty hot stuff now that she's in high school and has decided she's too mature to follow dumb ol' mom's cell phone rules. Since day one, she's known the rules with one of them being "No Swearing!" No swearing from friends and no swearing from her because I don't pay the phone bill every month for all the kids to talk like foul mouth sailors. However, now that we're in high school and SO much older and cooler, she must have thought that the swearing rule didn't apply anymore. Plus, did she totally block out that fact that I still check her phone? I always wonder what my girls are thinking when I bust them on something after checking their phones. Like I'm not going to see it eventually? Either they have no sneaky bones in their body or they have short term memory loss and simply don't remember the fact that I can read their messages anytime I feel like it. Or maybe they are just asking for discipline? I don't know!

Anyway, I had seen her text an abbreviation for a swear word a few times in the last few months but I downplayed it and basically told her that probably wasn't necessary, even though I know everyone was doing it. I didn't make a big deal about it and she agreed to stop. But then, last week I checked her texts and evidently she blew me off, like teenagers do, and decided to take her language abilities to another level and used a few choice words in addition to the abbreviations, in her conversation with her friend. She was still asleep when I read this on an early Saturday morning, so instead of waking her tail up like I wanted to, I decided to surprise her.

I made her favorite chocolate chip muffins, set two out for her to eat along with a nice letter that outlined my instructions for her day off. I kindly informed her that since she had been warned but deliberately disobeyed the phone rules, she could ponder these "choice" words as she spent her day off doing a long list of chores for me. I told her that if she felt like these words were important for her to use in her everyday conversation and words that reflected who she would like others to see, then she would have to surrender the cell phone. If she wants to talk like a gang member, then she'll have to do it face to face on not over a phone.

The chore list I made for her was great! I couldn't write fast enough as I looked around my house at what all needed to be done and I maybe even smiled a little as I listed chore after chore. I folded the letter nice and neat, wrote her name on it, and placed it in front of the breakfast muffins so it would be her "welcome to the weekend" surprise when she made her way upstairs from her late morning slumber. And since I knew my house was soon to be scoured, I took the opportunity to leave to do some shopping and so she found the letter and muffins alone. When I returned, we had ourselves a little talk and then she spent the next six hours checking off the chore list. She never said if she thought of using those newly found words while she cleaned all day, but I'm sure she thought of calling me one or two.

These "reality checks" sure are fun, aren't they?