To keep up with a tribe this big, you’ve got to have some guidelines.
And we have some.
And I composed them and printed them and taped them on the computer.
But the posting of said rules has had an interesting side effect.
The posted rules themselves have become something of a conversation item for our house guests.
And even my main non-house guest, as in Mike.
He likes to have people read my fridge-posted rules.
So it was suggested that my readers might like to have a gander at The Rules as well. (For full effect, pretend like these are posted on the side of my extremely-old-but-keeps-on-running fridge…)
The Non-Exhaustive Yet Still Enforceable List of Rules as of July 2010…
Obedience is IMMEDIATE, THOROUGH and CHEERFUL…and QUICK. (part of this verbiage of this first rule is borrowed from the Duggars…)
NO wrestling, smacking, slapping, kicking, hitting, tickling, hair pulling, scratching, karate chopping and any other physical aggression word I can’t think of at the moment…
NO Febreeze, Lysol, AirWick, candle touching, spraying, use without permission…
NO tying anything around your sibling.
NO locking each other in closets, bathrooms, bedrooms, pantries or what have you…
NO running, jogging, briskly walking in the house…
NO throwing objects, including Buzz Lightyear, in the house…
NO television or computer without first receiving permission…
NO jumping, bouncing, running or standing or walking on the furniture…
NO complaining…
NO screaming, shouting, verbally sparring, insulting, or any other form of verbal aggression…
NO using household appliances incorrectly, even if someone has asked you to vacuum them…
NO going into Mom and Dad’s bedroom or office without permission…
NO touching ANYTHING on the desk…
NO touching of the thermostat…
DO NOT leave trash on counter or floors…throw your trash away…and while you’re at it, throw away ANY trash you find, whether you have generated that trash or not…
NO grazing in the kitchen, getting out food, eating in general without permission…
NO gratuitous burping…
DO NOT get out other cups to drink out of. Each of you has your own water bottle. If it’s dirty, wash it. Put it in the fridge. If you lose it, there will be a consequence. DO NOT drink out of the faucet.
If you do not put away the materials and appliances you used for a chore correctly, you will be charged if it is a paying job. If it is a ‘because I live here’ chore, you will receive a consequence.
NO lying. NO use of any poor language, including ‘gosh’, ‘darn’, ‘oh my gosh’, ‘frickin’, etc.
School assignments will be accepted and completed with cheer and speed and best effort. ANY negative attitude will result in extra homework.
Depending on the offense, consequences will range from early beds times to grounding of up to five days (and that means from events and media, youth group, practices, games and performances and parties) to having to pay a fine. The consequence is at the discretion of the Tribe Leaders (i.e., Mom and Dad). Any negative behavior at the issuance of a consequence (eye-rolling, heavy sighing, door slamming, back-talking, attitude) will result in further consequence. The interpretation of the behavior is completely at the Tribe Leaders’ discretion.
You wrote: "NO lying. NO use of any poor language, including ‘gosh’, ‘darn’, ‘oh my gosh’, ‘frickin’, etc." I love it! Growing up if I said any of those words I would get my mouth smacked! I'm not as strict on my kids. I have to admit we do say some of those, but I REALLY admire you. The world is becoming a bad place! You can't even watch hardly anything on TV without feeling sick as they constantly take God's name in vein and talk about the S word over and over and over…
Love these, especially the clarification "even Buzz Lightyear." I may have to steal them!
LOVE your rules…we share many of those in our house, but do not have them printed out. Now that we have a reader in the house I believe it's time to post our own on our ancient-but-still-running fridge:) You are amazing!
lol some of the rules are so specific that I could almost picture your crew doing the offense!!!
these are priceless. almost, i said *softly* almost make me miss having a house full of kids. WIth grandchild #one days from being born, i am sure the silence around here is about to end rather abruptly!! =)
Looooove it! We're dealing with some issues here lately..or rather, *I* am *not* dealing with issues around here well lately…
We just might benefit from snagging this idea. Though I will need some help with appropriate consequences. Could you conjure up a blog post to deal with *that*? 😉
~Tara~
I LOVE your rules. I laughed, but only because every time I think of writing up family rules…they would be exactly like this LOL!!!!!
Fabulous!!! I might have to write these out in 6 year old language and hieroglyphs so my 3 yr old will understand on poster board and then LAMINATE it so as to avoid little grabby hand damage from my 1 yr old. Or I may just go ahead and paint them all over the walls in the living and dining room. Maybe I could borrow someone's cricut and use vinyl lettering instead? 🙂