Today has been one of those days. Well...another one of those days. You see it's spring, but it's snowing................ and freezing rain...... and cold.....and....vacation! So we have been cooped up in the house all day. No one wants to play outside, no one wants to do a craft and no one certainly wants to do any chores! So what do we do? Well since noon we pretty much pester each other! Will and Luke that is. So my strategies for dealing with pestering boys this afternoon included...
1. Hour long bath...for each of the kids ...not me(I can only wish) This ate up 2 hours. Works great for separating the kids.
2. Snack time.....4 times today. Usually only 2 times a day but desperate times call for desperate measures. Besides I secretly cut there usual snack in half so they didn't get any more food. That consumed another hour total (4-15 minute sanity breaks), instead of the usual 1/2 an hour.
3. The ever faithful movie. I pulled one out from the way , way, back. Listened to their complaints when they saw my choice. Once it was playing they were totally engrossed. Time spent 1.5 hours. Yeah!!
4. The not-so-popular quiet time. Luke napped from noon-1:30. From 1-1:30 was Mommy quiet time. AKA On the love seat with a magazine and knitting. Will was on the other love seat with a magazine. The only rule is to be...QUIET!!!!
Okay so 5 hours of manageable time, I made it!!!! There were the in between instances of bickering , crying and yes, (I am human) an occasional shout from MOM...but we made it . Tomorrow is another day....
Showing posts with label behavior. Show all posts
Showing posts with label behavior. Show all posts
Thursday
Wednesday
Amazing
I am still amazed. My kids constantly amaze me. Take this morning for example, Luke is winy. I check his head for a temperature. I always want to think that my child must be sick if he is misbehaving. Sure enough he felt warm and had a runny nose. So he is a 40 pound 2 year old so I give him a teaspoon of Motrin COLD. As he takes his medicine (all by himself from the little cup -AMAZING!) I check his temp with the ear thermometer (he lets me -AMAZING) Sure enough he has NO temp. Too late... he already swallowed the medicine. About 2 hours pass, Luke has had snack and watched a Blues Clues video for the second or third time while I get some office work done -AMAZING! I notice that the house is quiet, no video, no rustling in the playroom...just quiet-AMAZING. I check the time it's 11:30 am I go upstairs to see what Luke has gotten in to, guessing probably my make-up. Well I find Little Luke curled up in his bed sound asleep, covers on , and house shoes neatly at the bedside. UTTERLY AMAZING! I didn't know Motrin DID THAT!
Monday
Private vs Public AND Catholic Moms
Two of my children attend private Catholic schools...we are not Catholic. I hear your question...we chose Catholic school because:
1) I worked in a number of public schools in the northeast. I know what is going on. Teachers have little say, it's pretty much the parents/taxpayers who have the control. It is the students who suffer. I always tell people I loved teaching, I never once had a problem with any student. However, I could not even go to the post office with out being cornered by a parent wanting to know this or that about other kids or the administration, and even questioning me about other teachers after hours activities. Not just one parent, many parents. Not just at one school, all of them, and not just me! it happened to other teachers as well. Public school? Not unless I absolutely have to. Wait,.... I'd home school first!
2) I was raised Catholic, I am the youngest of 6, and if my Mother didn't need a hysterectomy right after I was born think I'd be the middle child of 13.
3) Smaller, much smaller classes! Public school classrooms average 18-28 kids. How can we ask a single teacher to teach that many children. It's crazy. And frankly I do not think it can be done well. There was not one day that I left work where I wasn't thinking about how I could have really helped a student more if I just had 10 more minutes. Well, if I had 10 less kids I would have had much more time to spend, I would have had a chance to elaborate on the ancient Egyptians, we could have done so much more........on and on. There are 8 children in my son's class. He is (6) and reading at a 4th grade level, he is doing addition and subtraction as well as understanding astronomy, geography and Spanish, french...I could go on. I am not bragging this is what happens when you are a full day kindergarten student in a class with only 8 kids. Their IS TIME to teach to every student.
[To all you teachers out there( & my mother-in-law is a GREAT teacher) I applaud you! I know you are doing your best in a system that makes it very difficult. ]
4)Bad behavior is NOT tolerated in a private school. Parents of private school children know this. If there is a situation where a child is being disruptive certain channels are taken to resolve the matter. If it cannot be resolved the child is told to leave the school. That's it, nothing more , cut and dried. Do I really need to tell you about behavior issues in a public school. Sorry, if your child is in a public school class where another student is being disruptive...oh well, you 'll need a lawyer to get your child switched to another class, and if you're the school district..well.. you may be forced to tolerate this child or get sued!
So, now I have answered your question I'd like to move on to my story. Recently I attended a baby shower for a teacher at my son's school. I think I was one of two people (of the 18 or so) that was not Catholic.. The woman who sat next to me has 10 children ages 14 months to 17 . She was beautiful, not anorexic model beautiful, naturally beautiful. And she is so nice, soft spoken, we had a pleasant conversation. As I met more Moms at the party I realized that these are very relaxed nice women. Not the frazzled, sleep deprived moms of 8+ kids that you would think of. When I got home after the party I looked at my little family of 6 and thought I got nothing to stress about. So Luke (2) climbed upon the kitchen counter while I was making dinner, instead of telling him to get down I gave him carrots and potatoes to wash. Now when things get stressful I will think of the Catholic mom ....with 10 kids..looking beautiful ..being nice and seeming so calm...
1) I worked in a number of public schools in the northeast. I know what is going on. Teachers have little say, it's pretty much the parents/taxpayers who have the control. It is the students who suffer. I always tell people I loved teaching, I never once had a problem with any student. However, I could not even go to the post office with out being cornered by a parent wanting to know this or that about other kids or the administration, and even questioning me about other teachers after hours activities. Not just one parent, many parents. Not just at one school, all of them, and not just me! it happened to other teachers as well. Public school? Not unless I absolutely have to. Wait,.... I'd home school first!
2) I was raised Catholic, I am the youngest of 6, and if my Mother didn't need a hysterectomy right after I was born think I'd be the middle child of 13.
3) Smaller, much smaller classes! Public school classrooms average 18-28 kids. How can we ask a single teacher to teach that many children. It's crazy. And frankly I do not think it can be done well. There was not one day that I left work where I wasn't thinking about how I could have really helped a student more if I just had 10 more minutes. Well, if I had 10 less kids I would have had much more time to spend, I would have had a chance to elaborate on the ancient Egyptians, we could have done so much more........on and on. There are 8 children in my son's class. He is (6) and reading at a 4th grade level, he is doing addition and subtraction as well as understanding astronomy, geography and Spanish, french...I could go on. I am not bragging this is what happens when you are a full day kindergarten student in a class with only 8 kids. Their IS TIME to teach to every student.
[To all you teachers out there( & my mother-in-law is a GREAT teacher) I applaud you! I know you are doing your best in a system that makes it very difficult. ]
4)Bad behavior is NOT tolerated in a private school. Parents of private school children know this. If there is a situation where a child is being disruptive certain channels are taken to resolve the matter. If it cannot be resolved the child is told to leave the school. That's it, nothing more , cut and dried. Do I really need to tell you about behavior issues in a public school. Sorry, if your child is in a public school class where another student is being disruptive...oh well, you 'll need a lawyer to get your child switched to another class, and if you're the school district..well.. you may be forced to tolerate this child or get sued!
So, now I have answered your question I'd like to move on to my story. Recently I attended a baby shower for a teacher at my son's school. I think I was one of two people (of the 18 or so) that was not Catholic.. The woman who sat next to me has 10 children ages 14 months to 17 . She was beautiful, not anorexic model beautiful, naturally beautiful. And she is so nice, soft spoken, we had a pleasant conversation. As I met more Moms at the party I realized that these are very relaxed nice women. Not the frazzled, sleep deprived moms of 8+ kids that you would think of. When I got home after the party I looked at my little family of 6 and thought I got nothing to stress about. So Luke (2) climbed upon the kitchen counter while I was making dinner, instead of telling him to get down I gave him carrots and potatoes to wash. Now when things get stressful I will think of the Catholic mom ....with 10 kids..looking beautiful ..being nice and seeming so calm...
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