Well, I did. Sort of. I am notorious for thinking I want something and then either not having any clue how to get it, or deciding once I have it that it wasn’t really what I wanted at all. So I wind up with exercise equipment that just sits there and collects dust, and then I’m pining over that next piece of exercise equipment that I’m sure I want but I really know it will take its place gathering dust with the others. (Don’t panic, Lion. I’m not talking about you or the cage.)
I thought I was brilliant when I gave Lion the task of making breakfast on the weekends. I’ve been doing breakfast every morning for the better part of a decade. It’s his turn now. I did not think this through. I should have kept the weekends and given him the weekdays.
Lion loves blueberry pancakes with walnuts. He won’t make them for himself and he never asks me to make them because I don’t like pancakes. Every so often I make him his pancakes and I either eat them too or make myself eggs. But this generally happens on the weekends. And guess whose job it is to make breakfast on the weekends. Not mine. Rats.
This may not seem like a major problem and in the overall scheme of things it isn’t. But it all goes back to my inconsistencies. If I tell him I want to make breakfast on a weekend, then haven’t I just undermined my own rule? When he was uncaged recently he wanted to be recaged as soon as possible and part of the reason was that he didn’t want me to slip into my old habit again. If I make breakfast one weekend day once in a while, is it a slippery slope that soon goes to both days every weekend? And then what about the other rules? I admit I haven’t made many, but I don’t want to lose whatever progress I made. On the other hand, I make the rules so I should be able to amend them on a moment’s notice.
When I spoke to Lion about this he said he’d thought of the pancake problem too. I don’t know if he had any fixes in mind, but I do. Obviously, I could just take that one day back every few weeks and make him his pancakes. Or we could swap a day. I make pancakes on Sunday and he makes breakfast Monday. Or, and this is my favorite but certainly won’t be his, he can do weekdays while I do weekends.
The important part is to keep the communication flowing. If we can’t solve the pancake problem, how can we solve the bigger problems that are sure to arise along the way?
Rule #1
There are no rules!
I kinda see my KH as queen. Whatever she says, goes. Your writing the story, write it how you want. We don’t get caught up in formalities or rituals.
Just make sure he knows who is boss. 😉
If there were no rules then he wouldn’t receive punishment swats or zaps from his electronic ball collar. He needs to know what the expectations are or he won’t be able to meet them.
Of course this rule has nothing to do with punishment. My point was that if I am lax in enforcing a rule because of pancakes, how long till I am lax in enforcing other rules? It’s my issue, not Lion’s. He knows who is boss. It’s actually me that needs to remember who the boss is.
Thanks for your feedback! 🙂