Thursday, February 26, 2009

How do I do this again?

So it has been a while, this I know. Even my sister has blogged twice since I last blogged. It isn't that I haven't been coming to my blog. In fact, I would come most everyday and watch the "got your tickets" video, I just haven't had anything, positive, to say. So I learned from my mother, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Hence the silence.

It was really hard to blog nice things about my kids when they had been driving me nuts. I am not exactly sure why, maybe it is because we had a taste of spring and then an overdose of winter. Maybe it is because we had a birthday and an overdose of toys, I don't know, but there was havoc in the household. I am not one for letting havoc rule the house so I had to come up with some solutions. So over the course of two days we instituted a no toy day, a spitting cup, a punching pillow and a crying mattress. I also rewrote our house rules on posterboard, explained them to Ronni and Peyton and had them sign it and then put it on the wall of the play room.

So far we have had great results. The no toys thing, surprisingly, worked really well. They had a hard time understanding at first, but then didn't really complain much. In the week since I haven't heard near the amount of fighting over toys as I had heard in the two days before implementing the rule, and if they do fight I simply remind them of their no toy day and encourage them to make good choices because, say it with me kids, "Toys are a privelage!" Today has been a no toy day and it has been awesome! I love how moldable children are at this age, as well as compliant, if either of them see a toy, they don't hide it or try to play with it in secert, they promptly tell me about it and then run to put it on the porch. They have been so great that next week they don't have a no toy day, as long as they continue to be good.
Peyton isn't nearly as interested in spitting (thanks Sadie, for that great advice) and loves to punch his pillow (thanks again Sadie), Ronni still cries but is getting better about being talked through it. The rules on the wall have really helped me to be a better, more consistent teacher. It is also a good visual tool for the kids, especially Peyton, I would take him to the rules each time he broke one, point it out, show where he signed his name and then give him his consequence.
It has taken some work but the house has gotten back under control. Don't get me wrong, it is still crazy, after all it is still a house with three children 4 and under but at least the havoc has subsided... for now.

the toy room on our no toy day, all they had were books and their imaginations, no wonder our grandparents used hard labor to keep their kids busy!

So the long blogging drought is over, hopefully the winter is too. In fact I will probably post again really soon to recap peyton's birthday. Better late than never!

3 comments:

  1. I love the playroom with no toys! =) I should do that to our back room...not like the kids play with the toys all that much anyway. Our neighbor kids have no toys and yesterday I saw them outside playing with 2 sticks and a tennis ball. I thought that was great!

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  2. Great idea's...which sister has a blog...I wnat the link....

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  3. It was nice to meet you last night Genny! It sure was a good time. I look forward to seeing you again! Oh yeah, if you'd like an invite to my blog then just email me (zjmleko@gmail.com).

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