Skyler's Watch Solution

So, as a Mother you always worry about your kids... Who they're playing with, what they're learning from them, etc.  Well lately he's been really getting into playing with the neighbor kids as soon as school gets out.  He counts down ALL day until when he can play with them, then stays practically until dinner-time if I let him.  But I've been worried about some of the bad habits he's been picking up from them & have been wondering what to do, while still giving him the freedom & excitement of playing with friends.

I finally decided to pray about it.  I figured certainly Heavenly Father cared about such matters & could help me come up with some sort of a happy medium.  And He did.  I got the thought to buy Skyler a watch that had an alarm on it, so I could set the alarm for how long he could play with different friends.  If he didn't come home when it went off, he couldn't play with friends the next day.  And the best part was, I could change his amount of play time depending on WHICH set of friends he was playing with.  So yes, I usually always let him play with friends, but often it was only for 15 minutes with those not-so-great friends & maybe 1 hour with the friends I liked better.  It made me feel better having him HOME more often & helped me feel a little more in control of the situation.  But it still gave Skyler the freedom to have fun playing with his friends & to be more pro-actively in charge of coming home (which he'd been crying about every time previously).  Anyway, I'm so thankful to have found a solution that keeps Skyler home more often & around better friends.  Love you bud!