It shouldn't surprise me how different kids are, but some how it does. And I suppose when you have kids at complete opposite ends of the spectrum, those differences are just reinforced even more.
Here's today's dilemma. And oh how I was it was just a dilemma today. But no, it is an almost every day dilemma. The 3.5 year old and the TV. Most of the time she is pretty good about it. I should preface this with a disclaimer. I have no problem with the kids watching TV. I try to limit how much and what they watch, but our home is not a TV free home. So anyway. The kids usually watch some TV each day, we try not to on Saturdays, and there is none on Sundays, but during the week they usually get to watch a little. The issue comes from what happens when it's time to turn the TV off, or I say she can watch a show later, but not right now. Sometimes it can be an okay, happy as a clam, go find something else to do reaction, but other times you would think WWIII was about to start. We've talked about it, had time outs, quiet times, no more TV that day/next day, taken snack time away...nothing. There is nothing I can threaten, bribe, cajole...we've reached the end. Some days she won't ask until the boy is down for a nap, other days, the second she wakes up and walks out of her room, "Mom, when can I watch a show?" When she does get to watch something, and an after meltdown has been averted, it's, "What can I do now?" I will play along sometimes and give her suggestions, but after the third suggestion is shot down, I tell her she is on her own. It is hard to balance the emotions of a three and a half year old with the brains of a five year old (or just some age older than three and a half). She is a smart kid, and a questioning kid, so when you give her an answer to something, it's not done. For example: T"What can I do Mom?" I give her a long list of ideas (paint, draw, legos, reading, etc....) T "I don't want to do any of those" M "Well, if you don't want to play with your toys, let's just gather them up and donate them to other kids who don't have any toys. I bet they would love to have these toys to play with." T "Well what are their names? Who are these kids?" One day I changed it up and told her we would just throw her toys in the garbage. She looked at me and said, "Where will the garbage man take them?" Not one look of concern or worry that we would get rid of her toys. She doesn't have that ONE thing that just mentioning it being gone or taken away for a day or two, will bring her back in line. It makes it difficult!
She has never been a strong independent player, and I try to make her have some alone play time each day, but some days it just doesn't happen. I've tried all sorts of things, new books, paints, crafts...nope. If it is something she can do on her own, chances are she will be running to you every 5 seconds asking you a question, asking you to come look, helping her with something, or my favourite. Getting the paper set up, the brushes washed, the paints opened, everything all set up for the creation of masterpieces and 10 seconds later, "Mom! I'm done!"
Do you think it would bring unwanted attention if I placed an ad on Craigslist for a "for-hire friend"?
