First Time on the Official Shit List

"Daddy! I discovered the [magnetic] darts can draw on the refrigerator!"

Shane's smile faded when he saw the look on my face.

"Oh,, no. You did not...."

He did.

"Your mom is going to kill you."

You don't see it...

...and now you do.

Shane drew on both doors. And by "drew," I mean "scratched into the surface." You can feel the grooves if you run your fingers over them. 

Carrie bought the fridge when we moved in. She always customizes and shops to find future selling points. Carrie was very specific about no magnets on the front. I was warned. Shane was warned...., but either he forgot, or was swept up in the excitement of it all.

I sent him to his room and told him to start cleaning before Mom found out what happened. He needed to make himself scarce and useful before she came back in from the chickens.

I was right: Carrie was NOT happy. She was furious.

When Carrie felt composed enough, I brought Shane down for sentencing. Carrie decided that she wanted Shane to work a penance to make amends. 

It started off well. Shane marched down, said he was sorry, stood at attention without wandering off, and started to listen. Then, he made it worse. Shane started to smile and try to laugh and act cute when Carrie was dead serious and brought up the penance.

He found his butt back in his room. I marched up later to read him his rights.

The original two-part penance:

1 - The living room carpet must be cleaned every night. No longer would train tracks stay out all week and toys for days (Carrie wiped out on the track on morning). If the carpet was already clean, Shane would be required to vacuum or clean elsewhere before any electronics were allowed.

2 - Every morning, Shane is in charge of scooping the cat poop (He seemed excited about this one).

The original plan was for a month. Because Shane laughed and smirked when his mother read the sentencing, I upped it to last indefinitely. I, also, added a third chore: Exercise with Dad after school. There were no electronics that night even though Shane had a green day at school, either.

Shane seemed more remorseful this go around. I made him tell me three things he learned later to process and grow. He still got a bed time story, too. We'll see how constructive the penance is as we move forward. It's a good excuse to make him pull more of his weight around the house.