Tough Love...

This post is completely out of order but I wanted to get it posted so that it was still fresh on my mind. 

It has been a rough week with my pretty princess.  She has reached a whole new level of sass and naughtiness.  As I whined to my mom about it she reminded me that the things my little lady was doing were not too far from the things I had done.  I insist however, that Madi is a still a little more stubborn and creative in her ways than I ever was.  I told my mom that is how I know Heavenly Father has a sense of humor [which also means that I am really in for it come the teenage years].  It also means that when Madi calls me to whine about how incredibly stubborn and challenging her little princess is, I will be able to pull out my blog journal and sweetly remind her of this week. 

It all started Monday morning.  I was folding laundry and talking to my mom when she came downstairs wearing her brand new, oh so cute, white patent leather church shoes that we had bought her on Saturday, the toes of which were covered solid in blue ball point pen.  I helped her to her room and went to fall into our couch that we had just got on Friday when I saw that too, had Madi's beautiful art all over it.  By this point I was fuming!  I cleaned up the shoes the best I could {No, it all didn't come off. Yes, I tried alcohol, Magic Erasers, lemon oil, hairspray and every other suggestion I could find.]  Lucky for her, the couch is microfiber and cleaned up pretty good. 

When she asked to come out a minute after she went in, I told her not until her room was clean.  She responded by throwing toys at in the hall and at me, slamming her door, screaming and yelling and kicking her door, over and over.  I ever so calmly emptied a storage bin and began gathering her toys she had thrown.  When she asked, I told her that if she was unable to take care of her things then she would lose them.  She asked for help to clean her room.  I told her that I would be happy to help if she would start cleaning and show me that she was making an effort.  She did a couple different times but each time I started helping, she stopped working.  This continued throughout the day, throwing tantrums, sobbing "I'm sorry's" and defiant "I'm NEVER cleaning my room!".  About mid-day she told me to take away ALL her toys.  I boxed them up (along with all her shoes except the new ones she colored on) and told her she needed to finish cleaning her room.  By the end of the night, little had been accomplished and I went to bed bawling.  I hate this part of parenthood.  I hate punishing my kids but I do it because I hate the way society is becoming and I don't want my kids to be part of the problem and also because I know that they need  to understand that there are consequences for every choice they make, whether they be good or bad. 

I was hoping that a good nights sleep would help and we could wake up starting fresh on Tuesday morning, work together to get her room clean and have an enjoyable day.  Unfortunately, that wasn't the reality.  I instead got day two of my little princess' stubborn, orneriness.  This time instead of throwing toys it was bigger things, like doll cradles, strollers and the chair to her little table.  By mid day I was done, with all of it.  I went in, stuffed everything, including her décor, into her kitchen and toy chest.  I then turned the kitchen around and put her table, castle and toy chest on top of it so it couldn't be reached. 

I then turned her bookcase around, took all her blankets except one [I was washing her sheets :D] and had her finish cleaning the garbage and clothes up.