It's All About the Safety

A true sign of mental illness better not be based on the rules one instills in one's household.  If so, I'm a goner.

Let me explain.....(How many great stories start like THAT?)

First of all, I shed.  I didn't know this until I had been cooking for many years. Apparently, my hair chooses to fall out when I am cooking.  (If you are squeamish, skip to the next blog)
And, when one of my kids finds a hair in their food, they always say, "I win!".  It began when we were battling with Princess over food.  She would not eat, we disagreed about the importance of sustenance. (barely 30 pounds at 5 years old, she BETTER eat food!)  During a prolonged battle over food, she found numerous reasons to reject the food:  It's too cold, too hot, too spicy, too green, whatever. Then one night, she found a hair in her food. Before she could appropriately embellish her complete disgust, I said, "YOU WIN!"  She said, what?  I said, you win-you got the hair, so you win!  It means, you're special! 
For some strange reason (genetics, maybe?) she bought it.  And, I frequently hear, "I win" at our dinner table. 
I have had to update the rules, however.  No one wins in restaurants.  Well, that's not true. We DO get a free meal out of it. Maybe I should clarify: the prize in public is even better than "You're special". It's "Please don't sue, dessert is on us".

Another rule in our house: No running in socks.  Most people might say, No Running.  Why? They WILL run.  They WILL fall. To top it off, we have an open floorplan where you can run from family room to living room to dining room to kitchen nook into the family room-a perfect circuit. Instead, the rule is: they can run if they are barefoot. That way, their pudgy little bare feet serve as traction on the tile and wood. I'm ALL about safety.  You will often hear me yell: "HEY! TAKE OFF YOUR SOCKS IF YOU ARE GOING TO RUN!!!!!" Every once in a while, a child stops, processes, blinks a few times and removes the socks with a big grin. And, always run clockwise.

Which leads us to: No dirty bikes in the house.  This comes from Christmas morning one year. Santa brought bikes.  Mommy and Daddy were in their jammies, and wanted to remain that way.  Outside was cold, and neither one of us wanted to schlep outside to watch the kids ride bikes-so, since the bikes were clean, we let them run the house circuit. We tried to limit the bikes to outside, but our street gets a little busy for Princess to ride around, and she has TONS of energy. So, as long as the wheels are clean, go for it. First injury ends the game.
I could continue...

No body slamming your sister......

What crazy rules do you live by?