How Do You Teach a Child?

Why is it that when you ask your children to get moving so you can go do something, they tend to move in super slow motion?  If it isn't in slow motion, they tend to focus on anything else other than what you actually asked them to do.

For example, I am sitting here listening to my children whom I have asked to eat their breakfast.

I should be hearing the melodious sounds of munching while the food is going down that wonderful tunnel to be digested for increased energy.

What I am hearing is the frustrating sounds of my children who are talking about flying kitties and dragons who love to roam the skies.  They are also acting out said kitties and dragons.

Why can't they just settle into their food and eat?  OK, so it is oatmeal, not the most tantalizing food in the house, but it does give energy for later AND we haven't eaten it for an entire week!  Maybe I should reconsider my breakfast menu options, but I like oatmeal so I think I'll keep it at lease once a week.

This behavior doesn't stop at the breakfast table, no sirree!  It carries over into the remainder of the day.  

I ask them to get dressed and they pretend they are dragon riders who "fly" around on their dragons in their pjs with their capes flapping in the breeze!

When I ask them to get shoes and socks on so we can go to the store they have a sudden interest to improve their literary knowledge by reading the latest Dr. Seuss book.  I can really relate to my favorite book written by said author, "I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew"!

When I ask them to clean their room, at least they start, then they quickly get sidetracked by their favorite toy.  If it is my son he gets lost in his Lego world.  If it is my youngest she gets caught up in her Little People.  If it is my oldest she gets sucked into a good book or Pintrest.  The chore gets started but, needless to say, it stays the way I found it, in total disarray where I risk my life by trying to avoid any hidden landmines like Legos! 

Trying bribery seldom works.  I've also tried treats, fun activities, adding extra chores, withholding food until the job is done, begging, pleading, crying, yelling, threatening, and the silent treatment!  I have discovered the same outcome for every single one of these tactics - THEY DON'T WORK!!!

I have found ONE THING that DOES work.  If I take the time out of my super busy mamma schedule and focus on helping them on the thing that I asked them to do, the chore gets done faster and we have less contention in the home.  I don't even have to do anything more than just sit there while they do the work and ask things like "where does this go?"  I have found that they just want to be in the same room as me and feel that I love them enough to take the time for them.

Too often we, as mammas, feel that we have to get such-and-such done and we have to do it right now.  We can't take a break or the "house" will start to overrun us.  We start to feel that if we take the time to "help" our children with such-and-such they won't learn what we are trying to teach them.  Sometimes we get caught up in our "searches online" (aka Pintrest & YouTube) to even notice when our children are needing us to just notice them for a change.

I am proof positive that if you invest just a tiny amount of time with your children they will turn out to be amazing!  It takes just a small amount of effort to teach them how to make a bed or clean a room.  I have also learned that the dishes will keep and the laundry will wait till another day.

Daddys can help too.  My hubby recently taught the children how to clean the toilet!  Not only did he teach them this valuable skill, but he showed them that they were more important to him than anything else he could have been doing.

We, as mammas, need to teach our children the importance of work and the incredible sense of accomplishment they can experience in a job well done.  The only way we can do this is by working side by side with our children.  They won't know how to do these things unless they are first taught.  We can't teach them these important life skills unless we unglue ourselves from our "devices" and acutally pay attention to our children.  They are only young for a short time and they will only seek our love and guidance for a short while.  

Let's set a new standard for mammas and rise up to the challenge of being the best possible mamma we can be.  I know it is gonna be difficult at best, but hey, we survived childbirth, we can survive the rest!

T-Ball Adventures

My son, who just turned 6 last week, had his very first T-Ball game yesterday.  It was soooo fun!  In the words of my hubby's co-worker, "They looked like little ants running around the field".

I wasn't expecting "Babe Ruth", and I don't really know what I expected, but what I got was a fun-filled evening of laughter!

On the pitchers mound

My hubby has been working the past couple of weeks with my son on how to hit, catch and throw the ball.  The only thing that my hubby neglected to teach was how to treat your opponent.  That, apparently is self-taught, and my son really knows how to handle his opponent!  If he doesn't like the kid on the base that he is guarding, he just "gloves" him  (by "gloving", I mean that he uses his gloved hand to cover the head of the kid on base.)  This tactic doesn't always work though, and almost broke out into a fist fight!

I did discover that my son has a great arm!  He would throw the ball to 1st base and make a pretty accurate throw, whereas the person on 1st base would stare at the ball for a second and then realize "oh yeah, I need to pick that up!"  I am soooo glad score was not being kept!  It would have been a stalemate or whatever they call it in baseball.  (As you can see, I'm not very versed in athletic lingo).

A great team!

There was this little girl on my son's team that is pure "girl".  Right down to her pink sparkly shirt.  You could tell that she was there because her mamma wanted her on T-Ball for the experience, but you could tell that the little girl wasn't having any of it.  Instead of playing, she ran off to the nearby park and she absolutely refused to wear the navy blue t-shirt that constitutes as the uniform.  Her exasperated mamma (aka the coach) finally conceded to the pink sparkly shirt, and the little girl then played the game.  After a few attempts, she turned out to be a pretty good hitter.

Running to base

As the game progressed, it was fun to see the kids "abandon their posts" to grab the ball.  While all the runners on the opposite team ran from base to base, the kids in the outfield piled on top of each other to grab the ball.  When one of the kids actually did grab the ball, they would look around for someone to throw it to just to discover that the entire team was standing right there.  Yep, that is one part of the game that needs a bit of work.

Another part that was fun to see were the many attempts at throwing the ball.  There was one little boy of the other team that took the ball in his gloved hand and threw it with the glove.  (Kinda hard to explain, but you get the picture, right?)  Normally you are supposed to catch the ball with your gloved hand then throw the ball with the opposite hand, the one without the glove, this little kid just decided to skip a step!  I guess he figured that it saved time that way!

Waiting to bat

On thing that the kids did was WAIT.  They waited a lot!  They waited to bat, they waited to run, they waited to throw the ball to the next base, they waited.....well, you get the idea, they just WAITED!  This is a new experience for my son, cuz he HATES waiting for anything!  If he wants something, he wants it NOW.  I was amazed that he was really waiting for everything about the game last night.   I guess that he is developing a sense of "pause and wait".  It will, after all, make him a better person.

Waiting for the next runner on 2nd base

I can't wait to see the next game on Wednesday!  It is sure to be another fun-filled evening of much laughter!

Water Dog

All winter long we sit around and wish for summer so we can thaw out and finally get warm.  Then when summer hits we sit around and bemoan our "hotness".  As the weather gets warmer, we bask in the warmth with cold water and popsicles.  We even invent creative ways to keep cool in the ever rising temperatures.  

I came across an idea on Pintrest the other day that was a "Kid Car Wash".  I decided then and there that I was going to try this idea.  I hope that it works better than my many other attempts at doing a Pintrest idea!

 One thing my children love to do is play in the sprinklers.  We didn't always have sprinklers, we didn't always have grass for that matter either, but we eventually had sprinklers, and grass, to cool us down on those super hot summer days.

Thing is, I don't know who has more fun in the sprinklers, my kids or my dog.

You see, our little Miniature Schnauzer, Mia, LOVES to play in the sprinklers.  She will attack the sprinkler like it will spontaneously jump out of the ground and start attacking the family and destroying the home.  She is RELENTLESS!!  She will become so waterlogged that her belly will be double in size.  She will then start to sneeze which sounds like a reverse hiccup mixed with a wheeze.  It's almost like her poor little body can't decide how to react to the overdose of water.

She will take a break for about, oh, 2 minutes, then she is back at it again.  The following video is just a sample of what she does.

to view this on a phone or tablet click here https://youtu.be/wUSdkxJRvLs

Not only does she attack the sprinklers, but any time the hose is brought out for any reason, she starts to jump up and down and bark.  This is her way of saying, "Hey, human, I'm right here!  Don’t forget to water me!"  She attacks the hose spray like a little kitten attacks a red lazer light.  She will follow it anywhere!  It is fun to watch her little body flip and turn just so she can catch the water.  

 to view this on a phone or tablet click here https://youtu.be/Ej2egjBwxto

This gets only a little irritating when I want to keep the kids dry, but they love to "water" the dog.  Maybe this year I can convince them to use soap while they do their "watering".  Then they might both get clean, thus eliminating the nighttime bath.

So I might not have "dry" kids, but at least they are having a blast while the dog gets a workout.  And, hey, I always say that the wetter and dirtier my kids are, the happier they are!  I prefer happy to any other alternative.