Well, that didn't work as expected!

Does it ever seem like punishments are harder for the parents to handle than the kids?

The kids have been playing baseball together a lot this summer, so I decided to pick up a plastic bat and balls in hopes to avoid injuries from a rogue bat tossed from a child who suddenly gets distracted by a butterfly in mid-swing. (we have two metal bats and a ton of baseballs from Genna's baseball seasons) Fast forward to today: After a very productive morning of homeschooling, and many fun hours of playing in the sun, it was time for the kids to start their chores. I asked Bella to go outside and gather up everything that had been scattered around the yard. She was outside for about 5 minutes when Genna suddenly started shrieking and came running out of her room shouting that Bella broke the window. I ran to see what happened and make sure no one was hurt, and I found Bella staring with wide eyes at the bat she just used to crack the window. There is a small hole surrounded by a beautiful big "spider web" design in the glass. When I asked her what in the world she was thinking and why she would possibly hit the window with the bat she just said "I didn't think it would break, I'm not even very strong!" The truth is that most of the time she really is not very strong, and I NEVER would have expected her to crack a window with a little plastic baseball bat from the dollar store. At this point I handed her the phone and told her to call daddy and tell him what she had done. (this was more so that I could have a moment to gather my thoughts because I wasn't exactly happy with her)

I told Bella that she has lost her privileges to play with the Wii and watch TV. I also told Bella that she would be doing extra chores and her allowance money would be going towards replacing the window. She was very good about taking her punishment, but of course I feel awful! She had plans to use her allowance money for a new pair of Hello Kitty earrings since her last set broke. She's been talking about wanting another special shopping day with me, and was so excited to be earning money. I know of course that she needs this lesson because this wasn't truly an accident (we've actually discussed before about not hitting the windows with things, and lately she's been "forgetting" a lot of the rules), but it also makes me sad to have to do this. Just another one of the joys of parenthood I guess.