Wednesday, August 27, 2008

We Must Be Fair

Tyler has been on a "fairness" kick lately. The problem is, he only likes it if being fair is good for him. Since school starts next week, Chris told the boys they would have to start having their school bedtimes again so they can get used to it again. Last year, Tyler's bedtime was moved back so he got to stay up 1/2 hour later than Cameron.

On the first night, it was 9 when we remembered and told the boys to go to bed. Of course, Tyler came running into the room to remind us that Cameron was supposed to have gone to bed a half hour earlier. Seriously, I think he had been sitting downstairs just waiting for this to happen to that he could come up & throw a fit.

Last night Cameron had a soccer game & so we were running a little behind once we finished dinner and everything. So again, Cameron didn't get to bed earlier than Tyler. So we again had to go through the same argument about how he didn't get to stay up until 9 until he was in 6th grade & Cameron's only going into 5th and on and on and on and on and on.

Being the very mature parents that Chris & I are, we kind of egged him on a little bit. I said, well, you didn't have to clean the bathroom when you were 10, so I guess Cameron shouldn't have to do that yet, you'll have to do it all the time. And Chris pointed out that Tyler didn't have to empty the dishwasher when he was 10, so Cameron shouldn't have to do that, Tyler will have to. And Tyler didn't have to give Amata & Caleb baths when he was 10 so Cameron shouldn't have to do that. (Seriously, Amata will stay in the tub for an hour if you let her. I don't mind shampooing her and all that, but I have better things to do than sit in the bathroom watching her play for an hour, so we like to have the boys supervise that part.)

And do you know what he said??? "That's fine. I don't care as long as I get to stay up later than Cameron." Nothing like cutting off your nose to spite your face! The extra chores will probably take up more than a half an hour of his time. And, of course, anything new we decide to have them help with, Cameron shouldn't have to do it for another 2 years, right?? We might be willing to rethink all of this...once Tyler concedes that we are right and life will never be completely fair.

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