My heart aches for that boy when I have to hear him crying from Internet addiction. It rips me apart! We don't discipline with abuse, but rather "take away what you love" as punishment. The problem is that what he loves is the only thing he enjoys. We're in a real rut with these teenage years. I need to help my child find other methods of enjoyment outside of the house. Taking the Internet away will only buy us time until worse things are available to obsess on. It took me a long time to get him to where he's willing to try different foods. That's a sure success. He eats really well now, mostly because I cannot afford to keep buying junk food and cooking separate meals for each family member. In efforts to break his obsession with entertainment, my bf is looking into suspending the Internet for the month of July per my request. This way, we all can get a little break. What's good for the gosling is good for the gander. I can make excuses like how I was a fat teenager too, how its not fair to expect him to exercise after walking around for 8 hours of school including gym, how he's just not the type of kid who enjoys being outside, how his allergies and fear of stinging insects stop him from enjoying the outdoors...those are all bull crap excuses. He needs to go outside and enjoy himself and shame on me for not showing him how to do so. Chalk this up there with one more thing I wish I had known before now about parenting. Kudos to me for noticing, even if it is very late, and fighting the battle with him now that we're at rock bottom.
It's really hard for me to convince my kid to get any kind of exercise. He's so out of shape that everything is strenuous for him. It hurts me to push him even though I know my expectations of him are reasonable and good for him. I just have to try to be logical and patient, not push him too much or get angry. This evening, I'm going to let him do a shorter route of .44 of a mile with me and reward him with video time after his shower. He will get his Internet when he comes home until dinner time, which is about an hour or two at most. I really enjoyed our walk together. I'm sure once the kid stops crying about how terrible it is of me to make him walk, we'll do some role playing and have a great time together.
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