Today, when Haley got home from school I felt as though my head was going to explode. Megan has been whining - and I don’t mean a cute a little wimper. More like a “Mommy, I’m being tortured slowly to death” kinda whine. Grrrr. It was grating on my nerves. And Haley was erupting her “volcano” from school - remember that baking soda & vinegar experiment - where liquid flows all over the countertop & floor? And about that time someone has asked for a snack for about the 30th time. Someone else is making an escape to the TV Room (which is forbidden unless asked for). And someone else is yelling “Potty! Potty! Potty!” with a real sense of 911 urgency. So what are they doing now, you ask? Haha - they are watching tv - brilliant - i loooooooooove TV!
Another absolutely brilliant experiment: a portable harddrive! It has backups of all our pics, and also has tons of room for tv shows! Minus the commercials, and now I have control over what they watch without me being in the room! Hoooooooray.
I didn’t use aaaaany of these rules - but they are worth noting - for those other times. hehe
1. State clear rules. Clear and appropriate rules are simple and are geared to the child’s age and personality. Rules tell the child what TO DO, not what NOT to do.
2. Personality/ Mood. When setting rules make sure you are taking into account your child’s personality and activity level, persistency level, intensity of the response to request, and the mood that your child is in at that moment or day.
3. Age appropriate rules: Be sure the child can understand and follow the rule. Read the age appropriate guidelines to get help.
4. Develop consequences: children will test rules. Keep consequences simple and make sure they make sense and you can follow up on it.
5. Follow up is very important: once you tell your child something it is important to do the same thing every time.
Remember to be consistent and flexible.
Or you could just do this here. 
Filed under: Humour
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