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Can't Live With 'Em, Can't Sell 'Em On CraigsList.
- Jul 3, 2009 at 7:37 PM
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- Comments (38) Total Views (1166) Everyone can see this journal post.
I've noticed a lot of my mommy friends are encountering the same stressful problem right now. Our seemingly delightful offspring are fighting more and it's bugging the snot out of us all. Summer is here and we're still trying to get everything done that we normally do, only now we've got all these little needy people in the house and no school to send them off to during the day...and they're BORED little needy people.
Planning things to keep them busy will work to cut the fighting down a lot, but I know I'm not always that on-the-ball. So when we fall asleep at the Parental Wheel and the fighting begins, what can we do to keep our cool?
There are a couple of quick and easy fixes, that I use myself, They really will work. I just need to remember them in my day.
Say this. Don't think about it, just say it.
"I charge a dollar a minute to listen to children argue. Solve it yourselves."
Then look at the clock. Those kids will skedaddle out of there faster than you can blink. If it comes to fisticuffs, so be it. They'll learn other ways of solving their disagreements without bringing you into it.
For those kids who have no sense and very few cents, toys can be easily substituted for cash. Only the most awesomely cool, most played with toys are confiscated. Then they have the opportunity to earn the toys (or money) back by replacing the energy they drained out of you in doing some extra chore(s).
One for the tweens and/or teens who need to be chauffeured everywhere is this little gem: "I'll drive you to (wherever) as soon as ____, ____ and ____ are done." If these ____s are not completed before it's time to leave, the kid doesn't go. Simple as that. Their friends' birthday parties are not a grade requirement.
Whatever you need to get done today, make your job less stressful by getting those able-bodied young'uns to help. They live there, too. Home is more than a place for them to eat and sleep and ask for sh*t.
These are actually a couple of techniques I picked up from Parenting with Love and Logic, and although I can't take credit for them, I can certainly tell you that Love and Logic really does work.
Even the toddlers can do this stuff! It keeps me ahead of the AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH Moments when I remember to use it.
I hope I've just made your day easier. If you like these, use them. If you don't, forget them. Just remember that we DON'T have to do it all. Really. Keep your cool. It's summer and it's a jungle out there.
BlogLikeNinja - Writers and Assassins. :)
Tags: love and logic, you can't sell your kids unless you've saved your receipt
Comments:
yeah a woman after my own heart. My kids have been at each others throats lately. They are 8 and 5, i know have a list of chores they have to do when they start fighting. Some days it works and other days they just run. my 18 yr old is going off to college, there goes my back-up
GREAT post! You're wise beyond your years my dear.
I had to laugh about the confiscation of toys. One year we did that with our kids. Every toy they left out or fought over was confiscated. They thought they'd never see them again. Come Christmas, we wrapped all the toys and put them under the tree. The kids thought they'd hit the mother lode! You should have seen their eyes light up when they saw their stuff again. It was priceless!
Oh, and I wanted to add, don't fret mommies...there will come a day when the house is eerily silent that you will long for those childish spats and 900th time of hearing, "Mommy, I'm bored." This too shall all pass, and all too soon ;-(
This is perfect. I will have to remember it.
I prefer e-bay *lol*!!!
wow, i actually thought this was common sense. it's how my mom raised us (and about 20 other kids in her child care business). i remember having to hold hands with my brother while in the grocery because we were fighting (and we lived in a small town, sometimes while at the grocery we ran into everybody we knew) and while on the way home from the same grocery trip we had to hold our hands up where mom could see them i the rear view mirror. i remember having to work for my money, standing forever (or so it seemed at the time) with my nose in a corner (this was before they invented time out benches). we didn't have cable (5 channels on a good day), or video games (i'm 26 they were invented, mom didn't allow them, "they rotted brains"). we were told to go outside and play. we rode bikes, we played games that involved imagination, we jumped out of haylofts (OMG). we played store and school during the summer. if we fought we knew that there was a chance of getting a wooden spoon on the butt, and there was definately a chance of that happening if we were bad in school. i'm sure there was times that we complained of being bored, but i don't remember then. i want my children to have a childhood like mine.
I think I love you.....
I've just added the book to my cart on Amazon!
My little brother and sister fought all the time. My mom started making them hug for 5-10 minutes at a time. Just...hug.
It wasn't long before the fights were reduced to none at all! =) It sure was funny to watch them, though.
Love this - thanks!
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