Do you even punish your spouse for bad behavior?
I’m not talking about major felonies, but minor misdemeanors. The times when they’re being PIAs (Pain in the A–) as my friend Roxanne likes to say.
In 20 plus years of marriage can you believe it wasn’t until last week that it even occurred to me I had the power to punish Wayne? (By “power” I mean a threat I could wield to make him snap back in line.)
The “Do” that Ignited the First Shot
It all started in the morning. I guess I woke up with a wild hair do. I didn’t bother taming it right when I rolled out of bed. I went about my morning routine, cleaning out litter boxes then fixing breakfast.
Well, right from the get go Wayne was in one of his moods –-an ornery and wild teasing mood. He immediately started in with the comments and the looks. The first was raised eyebrows, wide eyes, and a shocked expression followed by: “What’s with that hair? Crazy woman!”
It just went downhill from there.
Name that Do
He wouldn’t let it go. He had to come up with a name for my wild mane, so he started calling me Fraggle Mama. (As in Fraggle Rock for any of you who may be familiar with that show.)
From then on, even after I showered and tamed my Fraggle Do, it was “Hey, what can you expect from a Fraggle?” this, or “Must be a Fraggle thing” that.
Fraggle Retaliation
By lunchtime I was over the Fraggle comments. We were headed to get some food and happened to be passing by a store Wayne absolutely dreads: Target.
It was a complete and utter whim when I said, “You better start being nice to me or I’ll take you to Target.”
His eyes grew wide with terror as he shouted, “No! I’ll stop. Please don’t take me there!”
A Threat that Works
That’s when I realized I was on to something. When he started teasing again a little later I said, “Don’t make me drop you off at Target.”
He shaped up again.
Temporarily at least.
But every time he’s started getting a little wild lately, I use the Target card and it’s amazing how fast he’ll shape up.
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