The cold water shock treatment
By Staff
Melissa Cason
This week, my boys went back to school after being off for the Christmas holidays. When last Monday rolled around, I was faced with some pretty sad faces that just did not want to get out of bed.
Dealing with these difficult children brought back memories of my own childhood, and the way that my parents used to deal with my brother, Robert, and me when we didn't get up for school in the morning.
At the time, I thought the method was a little barbaric and insane. Today, I remember that it worked and it was somewhat amusing.
My dad was raised in a no-nonsense house, so he had a no-nonsense approach to parenting.
When school started, my dad had a sure-fire way of getting us out of bed: He doused us with ice water if we just laid there. That cold water was coming regardless of the season.
I remember the first time Robert got doused with water. He was in kindergarten and refused to get out of bed.
The next thing we all heard is hearing him scream at the shock of feeling ice-cold water all over his face. He immediately jumped out of bed.
I think Robert had to have only one or two more incidents like that before learning how to get up the first time he was told.
As the younger sibling, I watched and learned and did all I could to avoid to avoid it.
I started jumping up right away when my mom or dad would turn on my light and tell me to get ready for school.
As we grew up, whenever we didn't get up the first time, all my dad would have to do is go into the bathroom and turn on the faucet, and we'd be up immediately before he could make it into our rooms.
Today, Robert and I still joke about the ice water, and we all sit around and laugh.
His daughters think it's just a story their dad made up about when he was a kid.
You know like the ones our parents told us about walking five miles to school in the snow, up hill both ways.
But I know that the story is true, and while, my dad's method seems kind of mean, I am considering adopting it for my children because each day it gets more and more difficult to tear them out of bed.
