Tough love

My kids have had a lot of inconsistency lately which has made it tough for my kids to know what rules to follow and all of that. That changes today. No matter how sleep deprived I am I need to set rules and limits and get them back on track. We have a new time out corner. We will see how that goes. Mark just was in it for a bit of time because he was having trouble staying quiet. I am hoping that as we move forward the time outs will be successful in helping them to learn GREAT behavior. It is so much more fun to play when there is no name calling and/or hitting. I love watching them play nicely together and I know that they can do it!! It is tough being the bad guy. Funny though, give your kids a few strict rules that are always followed and they behave SO much better. I think they like the structure. Of course they are going to test them from time to time, but once they realize that I am going to stick to those few strict rules hopefully the testing will become less and less.

I am looking forward to watching my household change: less yelling, less tantrums, lots more fun and laughter!!

Hitting

Ugh - Abbey has been hitting over the last couple weeks and it just seems to be getting worse at times and not better. For obvious reasons a spanking doesn't really work - haha what would that teach her.. don't hit your brother 'spank'. I used to have to put my nose to the wall when I was little.. ugh hated doing that - but made me think about what I was doing. Hopefully I can redirect her frustration with Mark and get her to stop hitting him. Thankfully she doesn't ever hit the baby. Mark bugged her so much when she was little - so I really think she is getting him back. She is full of spunk and attitude - and thankfully is pretty verbal - but I do know that she doesn't always have the words for what she is frustrated about. Deep breath..

Overwhelmed

Man this momma is overwhelmed! Somedays I honestly think it might be easier to go to work and pay someone to watch my kids (but not really). Mark has been quite a handful lately. He is just plain not listening. Sounds to me like he listens at school.. so who knows what is not working here. I am trying to figure that out. But I need to figure it out soon, because Abbey is starting to copy behavior.. and the tantrums that Mark is throwing - ugh.. I do not want Abbey to start throwing them. I think it also depends on how much sleep I have gotten. I tend to have a lot more patience when I am well rested - but that doesn't happen often. My mom said she ordered me a couple new books - always up for learning something new - especially if it works! Baby just woke up from his nap! More later