Ah....finally I got my pc back today. Alot of backdated post waiting for me to update. :(
However I am feeling quite lazy and not in the mood to do anything. Progress of my homeschooling with Javier is getting very very slow. Practically we did not do much for the past 2 weeks. Mostly playing some educational toys and puzzles and reading some books. I realised that Javier seems to lose the attention span for the story reading time now. As I read the book, he would be wandering about or looking elsewhere....
Tantrum throwing is so frequent now, my patience is fast running out. Everyday from the time he wake up till the time he sleep, I seems to be anticipating a war erupting between us. He still sleeps very late at 12plus to 1am... !!!!!! When my MIL bring him over today, I feel so relieve and can finally take a break.
Another problem that trigger my temper is during meal time, both of time take such a long time to finish it. Hiaz... when will all this stop????? Will stop here for now.. still alot of unfinished grumbling.... :{
This blog is a specially dedicated to my 2 little boys. I hope that thru penning down my thoughts and the things we do. When times goes by... I can still look back and remember all the things we have done!
Don't stop. Read. Even he is not listening to you. I experience this when I try to homeschool Yvette. Now she loves to read so much and I am glad didn't stop!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, sometimes it is good to take a break from homeschooling. Too much work!
On sleeping part, did you bring him to playground to drain his energy? Nowadays, kids have too much good food (even milk got a lot of good ingredient) and they tend to have more energy.
I understand your son attend playgroup. Does this playgroup has outdoor play that will drain his energy too. Maybe you can consider a pre-school with big field when he is due for N1/2?
For food dept, I can really feel how you feel. It is soooooooooooo hard to get the tot to eat. Finally I manage to get Yvette to eat a decent portion for lunch and dinner but I am still working very hard for breakfast. Maybe you might want to check with them what they will like to have? Cook one dish upon their request? Will this work?
It is so hard to be a parent now. I remember in the past, no one will bark me for meal, no one will look at how I excel during my early childhood. But now, this is so important!
omg 12MN~ I tot after the kids sleep like 10pm, the parents can hv some personal and private time le!! i can die le, sometime, i 8pm knock out liao!!
ReplyDeleteHi Choon Yen, if the long meal time is because they are playing a fool, you might want to try this method. Give them a reasonable time for their meal (some kids are naturally slow eaters) and tell them you will keep the food once the time is up. And you need to be hard hearted and do this a few times before this will work (don't worry, they won't starve) and they will not be allowed to play after they leave the table. Don't lose your cool. Be firm and just keep the food once the time is up in a matter of fact manner. I know how hard this is because as mothers, we just want them to eat as much as possible, more so when they are not exactly gd eaters but this has worked for my 19 months old. This is to let them know the consequence of not eating during meal time. They will respect their meal time better. In the past, I feel like I'm the one begging them to eat but they need to know they are eating for themselves. If they get hungry afterwards, offer them a snack or milk. This might sound like a hard measure so only start if you feel you can pull through it. Hope you find this helpful. :)
ReplyDeleteChoon Yen,
ReplyDeleteI agree with renelik too. I used this method with Yvette when she was younger. I gave one hour when she was 1-2 year old. Now I give half an hour. If she doesn't finish her food within this time frame, I will remove her food.
Yeah, I do give snack after 1.5 hours when she was younger.
But I never don't let Yvette play afterward, I just don't give her snack so fast. I actually let her "starve" herself for awhile.
You know your child best!
Sunflower,
ReplyDeleteRight now, I am taking a break from the homeschooling. We just do simple activities and reading books. phew... frankly speaking, much more relax as I do not need to prepare the "materials".
Currently his playgroud doesn't have any outdoor activities and for myself, I seldom bring him to playground on weekdays anymore. Cos normally after he wakes up from his afternoon nap at 6plus, it would almost time for dinner. And after dinner, I got to wash up and coach Jayden in his school work. So that really leave me with no much time to bring them out.
But next year, he would be switching to any preschool with alot of outdoor activities. Hope things will improve then.
From what I observe, Javier only seems to feel sleepy when the clock struck 12mn. Machiam like there is a alarm clock in him. Ding dong 12mn, he will guai guai sleep on the bed and close his eyes. Before that, he will walk here and there and talk talk talk... :(
I totally agree that with you regarding "parenting method of our times"!!!! My parents never nag or bark me to finish my meal or force me to study. It is all up to our own initiative.
Ee
ReplyDeleteNo joke. Javier seems like a night owl. As the nite progress, he seems to get more and more energetic. :(
Luckily, sleep is not a problem for Jayden. He fall asleep real fast.. 5mins after he says good night to me, he will be snoring le.. keke.. If not, I would have 2 nite owl roaming in my house every nite. :)
Renelik
ReplyDeleteThanks for the helpful advice.
Many a time I wanted to use this method on my boys.. but on the other hand, I am worried that they will starve so I cannot make myself do it. I rather nag, scream and coax them to finish their meal. But I guess all these never works, instead it only make me get madder as the meal progress.
Maybe I should really be hard-hearted and use the time limit for my boys now. ( but 1 query on mind, would they take it for granted that since I don't take the meal, I still can eat some snacks in a short while???...)
Choon Yen,
ReplyDelete6 plus too late already. Don't let him sleep past 5. This is how I dealt with Yvette's sleeping problem now. (Remember Yvette is night owl too.) And now I can tahan she didn't nap in the afternoon. (Properly 1-2 x per week.) She is so much better now. Hardly sleeps after 12. But sometimes I still face she sleeps after 11pm. (Usually she will sleep at 10 plus.)
Perhaps your hubby can help. Bring the boys down to playground and let them run?
Time out doesn't mean you don't have to nag at them. I still try very hard for this one hour. But I never tell Yvette you have one hour to eat. I just remove it. You don't have to tell your boys they have one hour to eat, you just remove the food once the one hour is due.
i remember Jayden sleep very early ard 10pm last time?
ReplyDeletei know not easy to take care of two kids. I am very pei fu you, coz i know Jayden and Javier are super active kids, even you bring them out for whole day, they are so energetic...especially Jayden..haha..
Sunflower,
ReplyDeleteI also feel that 6plus is too late. Now I am readjusting his nap time so that he would wake up earlier. But it seems it doesn't make much difference. Even though he wakes up at 4plus, he still sleep very late at 12plus Mn. Faintz....
Sometime my hubby would bring the boys to cycle downstairs or playground. But I should say it is getting lesser nowsady. I understand that my hubby is quite stressful over his job recently and he need to work from home even though he is at home, so I din specially ask him to bring the kids downstairs.
I think I got no choice, but to try out the time limit method for the meal time. But I predict it won't be easy!!! esp with my 2 stubborn boys.
littlekaikai,
ReplyDeleteJayden sleep very early since he was a baby. So I got no problem with him. He really can fall asleep in a blink of an eye. When he told me good nite and turn his back on me. I can hear snoring from him in less than 5mins. Really amazing!!!!
Ya, I got to agree... they do have so much energy left even though we bring them out from morning till evening without any nap. They can still play when they reached home and only go to sleep at 11pm, esp for Javier.
Hi Choon Yen,
ReplyDeleteThe snack that you will be giving should not be their favorite "junk" snacks as they will purposely skip their dinner for their snacks, kids these days are just too clever. I suggest giving them some energy food such as Banana or a glass of milk will do too and try your best not to nag like "see... dun finish your food now hungry right?.. blar blar blar"... If they tell you they are hungry, just give them a snack or maybe ask if they want a glass of milk. Explain to them that we need to eat during our meal time so we have energy to play and learn and if we don't, we will feel and weak. Nagging rarely works... for us when we were a child too. But I know I'm guilty of nagging ALL the time, whether or not they understand me. :) Like I mentioned, only start this when you think you can pull through it as you probably need to do it like a week to see any effect as your kids are older. Hope things will improve for you. When there are downs, there will be ups too.