January 5th, 2008 - What to do with the kids
Although I strongly resisted watching it in the first place, I ended up really liking the movie Shrek. One of these days, I’ll watch the second one. Meanwhile, I’m going to try to win the third one. Home Ec 101 is running a quick contest to win the DVD!
The question is: What do you do to keep the kids busy when you need to get things done?
* First and foremost, my best solution is to involve Maggie in what I’m doing. Easier said than done, of course. But I’ve talked a lot about teaching children to help with chores, even at quite young ages (Maggie’s been helping with the laundry since she could walk. Maybe even before.)
* But sometimes, you’re too busy or harried or it’s dangerous, so the second option is: Get Eric to do something with her. Really, having your husband or wife or an older child keep the child busy is a great idea and an oft-overlooked one.
* Maybe this should have been the first one: Teach the child to keep herself occupied. Maggie is only just 3 and she doesn’t need 100% supervision. From the beginning, we’ve played a lot with her AND taught her to play by herself. We strongly encourage self-sufficiency. Lately, she’s been doing a lot of “I can’t!” on things she quite obviously could figure out in another 30 seconds. Instead of doing it for her, we tell her to take care of it herself. Sure, when she wrapped the sticker around her finger last night and couldn’t get it off, it would have taken me only 10 seconds to remove it. Instead, I put up with 2 minutes of her standing there, asking me to help, my telling her to take care of it herself, her trying, taking it mostly off, putting it back on, asking me again, repeating myself, her taking it mostly off and tearing it, my helping her by holding on to the bits and pieces and she slowly but surely got it all off. Yes, it took longer, but in the end, I’m helping her understand that she is a competent kid who can do things by herself.
* No bonus points: Maggie is never babysat by the TV. She rarely even watches it with us. I want the movie for myself! LOL
One Response to “What to do with the kids”
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January 8th, 2008 at 1:28 pm EST
I haven’t seen Shrek2, but take it from me — avoid S3 like the plague.