Somedays it’s harder than others, this parenting thing. Now that it’s cold, and my kids are cooped up inside the house, they are bouncing off the walls. And I’m going insane. It’s exhausting. And repetitive. My days consist of repeating the following orders (which are largely unacknowledged):
Don’t hit your sister.
Don’t be a tattle tail.
Stop fighting.
Don’t bite her, she’s just a baby. What did she ever do to you?
Why are you harassing me?
No TV for a week. It’s over.
You think this is mean?
Those toys are going into storage – you’ve lost your privileges.
Stop fighting.
The baby is sleeping, can you please keep it down?
What is WRONG with you two, can’t you just get along for one minute? I can’t even leave the room and you’re on top of each other.
You get the picture – all day, all evening. Interrupted by brief sojourns at their respective schools, my two older kids spend all their time fighting, complaining, acting out and destroying my home. I don’t know what happened to my sweet babies. I feel inequipped to deal with the behaviour. All I want is 15 minutes to come down here in the morning to check my email, maybe do a little online shopping, make a phone call…but no, within seconds of me switching on the computer someone is shrieking and crying. Last week there was blood. I’m serious. It’s nuts.
Kids are a handfull, spend quality time talking with your children as much as possible. Your time will pay you great rewards as they grow into adults.
Try and have a firm bedtime hour, giving yourself that time you need. As kids get a little older, they can still have a bedroom time, encourage reading in bed before sleep. 🙂
This is *so* my life. I hear you.
Can I borrow a few of your phrases to include with my Part Two post of “Things we never thought we’d say”? http://crumbsintheminivan.blogspot.com/2008/11/day-twenty-five-out-of-mouths-of.html
Wow, it sounds like MY life! You lucky, lucky woman.
When my kids start acting like that, it’s generally a sign that they’re needing some one-on-one attention – can someone watch your baby while you take one of them out for lunch on the weekend, maybe? And then the next day, same thing with the other kid. WE find that a little outing with mom pays off big in days of much-improved behaviour.
But the baby days are just hard. They really are. Mercifully, they don’t last forever.
Oh wow. Everything is so intense at this stage. I wish I had some great advice for you. The only thing I can think of is what someone said to me “the days are long but the years are short”. You’ll get through it and when you do you’ll wish you had those little kiddies back 🙂