Ok, so the article talked about thinking about the happy moments in your day with your children. What are those times? What are you doing? What are you doing when the tantrums or meltdowns occur? Well, I can very easily answer both of those questions.
The best time, the happy time of the day is in the morning when we are laying around drinking chocolate milk, because what better way to start your day? Playing with my children doing what they like to do. They like to read, play with toys, change dolly diapers, build things with Legos, have a snack outside, go on a picnic, feed the ducks, go to the park, you get the idea. They like to be kids.
The difficult times of the day are rushing to get out of the door, which I totally appreciate because I don't like to be rushed either, but yet I am certain that I create this monster because I allow them (for selfish reasons) to sleep as late as possible. Another difficult time is when I am preoccupied with something else, which is often times messing around on the computer because this is an addiction to me. Although, I believe that I have reached the end of the the Internet because I actually find it boring. Go figure. So my kids do not like me to do anything else. Not really, but you get the idea. Here is the trouble, sometimes I want to do something else. Sometimes I don't want to read another book, but I often have to remind myself that one day they won't be asking me to read books or play Legos. They will have their own friends and well, they will know how to read.
So this morning I thought I would try a little different approach and by golly, it worked! We had one minor meltdown, but it was averted rather quickly. I explained how the morning was going to go, but I didn't rush anyone. I let them, within reason, decide when they were ready to get dressed, but I had already let them know in advance all that we needed to do in order to get ready for school. Why in the world I am in a rush for them to get to Mother's Day Out is beyond me. It is just preschool. Then again I am sure that I am in a rush because selfishly I want a little time to myself or I just want to go to the grocery store without someone screaming because I didn't put a box of cookies in the basket.
Ok, so even though they slept late today, we took our time. We laid around for a bit and talked about the letter of the week (R). We peacefully drank chocolate milk and make delicious smelling cinnamon rolls (I did not have one unfortunately). We had a race to see who could get dressed the quickest. They had input on what to pack for lunches instead of me making decisions. The kids played Legos. Jack must have been in a peaceful play too, because he asked, "can we play with the lights off? It is really more relaxing." I gave a 5 minute warning when it was time to get ready to leave. It worked! Little people actually listened to me and they were happy, I was happy. It was a great way to start the day. No crying, no yelling, no threatening to lose privileges. It was an easy going kind of morning and I liked it.
So tomorrow we can try it again. Parenting, at least parenting in our house, is a learning process. We try things and if it doesn't work we try something else. Sometimes we do really well and sometimes it just flat doesn't work, but we keep trying.
So here is hoping that you too are having a happy day!
Why didn't I brush her hair you ask? She won't let me. You are thinking, "well who is the parent?" Well, I am, but even if I did brush it she would immediately run her hairs through her hair to mess it up. I am choosing my battles.
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