Today was just one of those days…

Have you ever had one of those days, when you just want it to finish, go to bed, wake up and start a new day all fresh. Hoping that everyone else in the house does the same thing so that you wake up all happy and yesterday never happened.

Well today was one of those days. I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. The little Man was just having a day, where everything was wrong, he didn’t want to do that, or this, or anything that you suggested at all. He felt the need to punish his sister by pushing her over for just being in front of him at the wrong time.

Then Little Miss is teething so she is crabby, and just wants to hang onto your legs every time you walk past. You can move anywhere with out her crying and wanting to come up. But that can’t be helped, I don’t think I would like to have my teeth cut through the skin, ouch, I think I would be a bit crabby too.

Solution

Rather than yell and scream and carry on, I find the best thing to do, is to give him some time out in his room. I tell him to go and sit in his room and think about why he is there.

- Does he really want to be there?
- What did he do to be there in the first place?
- Is he going to do it again? (usually the answer is no, but sometimes he just can’t help himself)

I set the kitchen timer for about 3-5mins, this depends on what he has done. Put the kettle on, because I am usually in need of a cup of tea by then. Then when the timer finally goes of, I get him out of his room and we have a bit of a discussion about what his thoughts are (thoughts of a 3 year old are not always that great, but hey we give it a go).

OR

The Little Man tends to get frustrated with things, when they don’t go how he wants them to, he is just being a 3 year old boy again, he can’t help it. But he also needs to know that it is wrong.

When I can see he is frustrated, I say to him that it is ok to be frustrated, but you mustn’t take it out on anyone. You need to move away, find something else to do, draw, play with your playdoh. You don’t need to hit or push, it doesn’t make it any better.

Another thing that seems to work, which I got from a TV show called Poko. Poko calls it Pokomotion and he does a little saying with some actions. It seems to take the little mans mind off of things.

It goes like this -(Try it, it seems to work)

Breath in, touch your nose
Breath out, touch your toes
Breath in, do a spin (turn around)
Breath out, give a shout (shout HOORAY! at the top of your voice)

Unfortunately today he had a few visits to his room and some pokomotion for several different things. It breaks my heart, but I know that I am doing it for him, or he would be a wild child and have no boundries.

We did get a few moments in the back yard, and had a bit of play time and fun, but is ended up in tears, so the fun was over.

The worst part is when I put him to bed tonight he said “I love you Mummy, sorry I was a naughty boy today, I will be better tomorrow”.  Ouch, Heart break, break, break….  Let just hope that tomorrow is a better day.