Child Labor is NOT Illegal in this House

They say that the punishment should fit the crime, right? (Don't ask me who "they" are- I'm assuming they're the brilliant, know it all, ingenious, child experts who obviously know a whole lot more about parenting than I do). So, what was I to do when Sprout got caught eating in his bedroom when he knows the rules about eating in his bedroom AND lied to me when he said that his Dad told him it was ok! In following with those brilliant, know it all, ingenious, child experts, this is all I could come up with...

Now, before you go off thinking that I am some kind of harsh authoritarian, I am, (kidding, those of you that know me know that this is pretty far from the truth), but one of the reasons I am so strict about this hard fast rule is that we live in the deep south where a certain kind of bug that begins with cock and ends with roach like to feed on leftover crumbs and I can't handle catching, swatting and or smushing these said bugs so we eat at the bar or the table only-and occassionally the couch but whatever! You remember my aversion to bugs right? And the adventures we had last summer with Rochello the Roach? Well alrighty then, glad to see that you are keeping up; let me just remind you- click here, here or here for a little refresher! Besides, how was I supposed to know that my ginormous Dirt Devil weighed 21 pounds!!! The poor kid said the thing was heavy but 21 pounds! That is almost half of his body weight! That would be like me pushing around a 60 pound vacuum cleaner- ok maybe 70 pounds, alright, alright 75 but that's my final answer!

Ok, so it was 20.5 pounds but whose counting; Sprout, perhaps? Looks like we are in desperate need of that Oreck XL Ultra being given away over at 5 Minutes for Mom. At 9 pounds I think Sprout would be very appreciative because I have a feeling this won't be the last time I catch him sneaking food into his room!