Guilt Trip

"Mom!" my son yells to me from his bedroom.  It's after bedtime, so I walk down and open the door.  Tears stain his voice and face.  Ditto for my daughter.  They launch their attack. 

"Mom, will you please pull us out of school?  We hate it!  I can't even say the word butt without getting a card pulled!  I don't have any friends!  We only get 45 minutes for lunch and recess!"

I listen very nicely to their rant about how school is ruining their lives.  For a nano-second, I consider homeschooling again.  Then I come back to my senses.  I'm a slack teacher and they learn squat from me.  They're getting a much better education at school. 

I say, "We committed to going to school for a full year.  You made a commitment.  You will see it through."  Then I clinch it by using every mother's ultimate weapon.  "Tell you what.  Why don't you both pray about it.  When you get an answer, come talk to me."

But there's so much more potential on this one.  I need to infuse a little more guilt.  I need to say more things like, "When I'm tired of cleaning up your messes, do I get to quit cleaning?"  Cause I'm not going to lie, that would be great.  Or "Wow!  You get a whole 45 minutes just to eat and play?  Where do I sign up?" Or "I don't have any friends either.  I'm too busy taking care of you guys."  

Yeah.  I'm not done with this one.