Winning!

Sometimes I feel there's a battle of the wills when it comes to raising kids. And by sometimes, I really mean daily.


After a long day, it's very hard to not give in! That would be soooo much easier.


A recent "issue" around our house has been bedtime. By the time you take a bath, go potty, brush teeth, and read 12 books, say prayers, get a drink 3 times, give hugs and kisses, etc. it's already been almost an hour. But, after leaving the room, the boys would turn on the lights no fewer than 42 times before giving in and falling asleep. And that means someone had to open the childproof door and turn the light off 42 times. Aside from hiring a 24-hour maid, I desperately need that 8 pm to 10 pm time slot to do things other than turn off the lights.


There were also several days in the week where we'd wake up in the morning and they light was on (but the boys were sleeping). 


At this point I was starting to feel pretty defeated.


Then I realized that this was no different than any other battle of the wills around this house. I needed to outsmart the competition! So I hopped online and typed in "childproof light switch covers" and crossed my fingers. I found one lonely brand on Amazon. That's it. Nothing else existed. Thank goodness! I'm a huge fan of ordering things online to save time...but this was a Class 1 emergency. So I called around to Target and Babies R' Us.


Both of the individuals I spoke to at Target and Babies R' Us said this:


"Wait - you mean the child proof plug ins for electrical outlets"?


Me: "No, not for the outlets. For the light switches".


The lady at Target laughed out loud at me and asked if I had my hands full. The lady at Babies R' Us just acted like she'd never been asked that question in her entire career at Babies R' Us.


So I went ahead and ordered the one on Amazon. I think it was $20 with shipping. They could have charged me $200 - I would have paid just about anything at that point.


But since it wasn't going to arrive for a few days, I needed a plan 'B'. So I used an empty straw box and a sh*tload of clear packaging tape and voila!

Mason cried and cried after I put it up. He was mad and yelled "take it off! take it off!"


But....that night, the boys went to bed *almost* instantly and there was no goofin' around. 


Here's the one I bought online. You stick your finger up the bottom to turn it on, and down from the top to turn it off. Little fingers aren't long enough to reach the switch. Yippee!

So now if the boys want to goof around at night, they at least have a chance at eventually fall asleep since the lights are off.


As Charlie Sheen would say, "WINNING!"