We have bad days too and today was one! Coming off a great 4 day weekend filled with lots of dad time they simply crashed. Crabby, whiny, mean and unkind to one another. I am drained after a long day of heart and character work. I feel like I spent the whole day just correcting them and teaching. From one crisis and unkindness to the next, at times challenging to keep up with them.
We have a saying that "We don't speak whinese in our house." Unfortunately we can still be subjected to hearing it. My temper gets shorter and shorter the more the whining, fussing and complaining continues. I yell and get short and am just as crabby - then we get into an unhealthy cycle.
We tried lots of strategies today. They even got to do extra chores like weeding, washing windows and walls. Still it continued, naps did not work either, nor did outside time. You did not want to be a fly on our wall today that is for sure. It seems nothing works, so off to the library and pond, two places that calm everyones spirit. Something about new books, caterpillars, worms and ice cream cheers everyone up.
As I type this on my Blackberry I recognize we all need a day of adjustment that sometimes makes us crabby. Guess today was that for us. Here is to tomorrow being a better day. In an attempt to be optimistic (not a strength of mine) I will say the silver lining is you get to read about the bad too. I'll try not to think too much about the irony of this post following the previous post and remind myself that some days are just like this, even in Australia!
Tenniel
We don't speak whinese in our house.
ReplyDeleteOhhh, I like that. Mind if I steal it to use on my kids?
I've said things to them like, "Maybe we should go down to the courthouse and change our last name to Whiner! Because it sounds like that's what you want to be."