Tonight we had a family team meeting. Things have been out of balance at our house. I wanted to talk about it.

We talked about the responsibilities of being part of a family. We talked about how it doesn't make you entitled to anything, but it makes you responsible for doing your part.

We talked about how having a cleaning lady doesn't mean that you don't have to pick up after yourself and throw away your own trash.

I explained to the boys that their disrespectfulness is out of control. I asked them what they would do if they were Babysitter J. Would they come back? Both said no. I explained that we needed to have Babysitter J and Babysitter M. We are down to two. They are friends. They talk to each other. I explained that my expectation is that they would treat them with more respect than they would treat me.

We also talked about how right now we don't do much as a family even though we are together nearly every minute in the evenings.

We also talked about how the number of appointments the boys have in the evening are what drives our schedule. I don't see this changing anytime soon so when I look ahead and ask you to do something that you deem to be early it is because I am thinking about the "big picture". The boys don't really get that concept.

Both boys talked about how their days are stressful and even though they don't want to they take that stress out on me. Both boys were crying while they were talking about the stressfulness of their days. I explained that I, too, have a lot of stress. My job is stressful.

It was a good discussion. Probably should have happened a LONG time ago. I'm glad it did now.

Prayers for changes made as a result of the discussion. By everyone.