Saturday, January 19, 2008

He didn't die from it....

Ok... so for anyone who doesn't know (which I think every one of my few readers DOES know) Blake lost his PlayStation 2 games in March of 07. He had the games for some time... and had just gotten new ones, actually, the month before. He could NOT control his anger while playing these games. He wasn't allowed any games that were not rated E (for everyone). He had games like Matchbox car racing. He would get SOOO angry while playing the games, that his face would turn beet red and he would yell and scream. He would even DEMAND that his dad stop what he was doing and get him past a certain point in the game.

We spent MONTHS telling him to pause the game and walk away. Calm down. Go back to it later. And I do mean LITERALLY "MONTHS", as in about 6.

So, anyway, one Saturday morning Blake is playing Hot Wheels something-or-other, and I hear this blood curdling screech and a BANG! I go to the den where Blake is sitting red faced and fuming on the chair and I look and see that he has whipped the remote across the room (which isn't very large, I might add) and it has missed the 39" TV screen by about 2 inches!! YIKES! With the force that he threw that thing (I heard it all the way at the other end of the house) if it had hit the TV that screen would have shattered. And if you don't know... when TV screens break they don't just crumble --- they EXPLODE.

Well, I very calmly told him he was done and as I reached for the off button, he yelled, "NO! I haven't saved it yet!!"

I said, "Too bad. You are done. When your dad gets up he will take you to the pawn shop, you will sell all of your games, and then you can go to WalMart and buy a new toy."

You would have thought I had ripped his right arm off! The child HOWLED. He got on his knees and BEGGED me to change my mind. He cried REAL tears.

Mike came downstairs and said, "Are you serious??"

I said, "Yes I am."

Mike said he wouldn't take Blake to the store acting like that... I said, "Well, he has a choice. He can calm down and go with you, or he can continue to yell and scream and stay home while YOU take the games. Either way the games are gone."

I was SO calm the entire time. I am a yeller.. but I totally didn't yell, or even raise my voice.

They gathered up the games, Blake made one last plea, and out the door they went. As I watched them drive away I burst into tears, called one of my best friends and said, "Did I do the right thing??" WAH! WAH! WAH!

She told me that I had... even though I knew in my heart that I had... but it was a difficult thing to do.

I told a co-worker about it and she FLIPPED! She thought that was the most awful thing I could do and that he certainly did not DESERVE that. I told her that he doesn't NEED PS2 to live a happy, healthy childhood. (For the record.. her 2 boys walk all over her and they have 2 PS2s, Nintendo, XBOX and Wii. They get whatever they want, no matter what.)

But... it's been almost a year and Blake is still alive. He has not shriveled up and died because he hasn't had PS2. He got $25 at the pawn shop for his games so he was thrilled to be able to buy new matchbox cars.

And most importantly... he has not missed it. He doesn't beg for games, he doesn't ask for games for bday or Christmas, he doesn't cry for games. At Christmas this year, we were in Sam's and they had a whole thing set up with TV, PS2, wireless controllers, and a chair that had sound and vibration in it. He played it for a few minutes while we looked at something nearby. Then when we said it was time to go, he walked away. On the way out he looked at it again and said, "I can't wait to have that game." And I said,"You aren't going to GET that game." He said, "Yeah, I know." and that was it.

He did ask (about 2 months after) when he could have games again. I told him when he is 16, has his own job and pays for them himself.

So... I just wanted to update and let y'all know that he is still alive and kickin' even though some folks would consider me the meanest mom in the world!

3 comments:

Chart Smart said...

NICE Blog :)

Ter said...

Meanie!

lol, just kidding. I would do the exact same thing! I agree that children do not NEED video games, they can be a priveledge but his behavior was not something to be tolerated, and I'm glad you're not one of those people who would tolerate that! :)

I'm glad blake survived not having his PS2!

Tonia said...

It's amazing what people think that kids need.

You won't be surprised that the only video games in our house are JD's Gameboy games that he mostly has bought himself. Occasionally he gets one for a gift. I like it because I use it to bribe him to get stuff done that I want. You get so much Gameboy time in exchange for.... I used to bribe him to read, but now he loves reading so much that I don't have to do that anymore. Mostly now it just occupies him in the car, which is great for his sisters.

I have to admit though, it's tough to keep him off the computer. I have to set strict time limits and keep my computer logged out if I'm not nearby. Otherwise he wanders by and just jumps on.