Jeez, my kids can be a handful. (sigh)

[UdoKier]

WARNING: This is a parent story. If you hate kids or find stories about them boring - leave now.

Usually they are a joy to be around, but today was one of those days. My almost-5-year-old and 7-year-old are expected to clean up their toys within a given amount of time before bed. The toys they don't pick up are promptly scooped up and put into a bag and onto a high shelf in the garage until the next birthday or Christmas comes around.

The older one has the week off school, so today I took him on a bike ride to the park, let him watch "Superman 2" and when he asked me to rent "Fat Albert" and let him watch it at dinnertime, I did. Maybe that was the mistake. Too much TV all in one day made him anti-social. When clean-up time came around, they sat around for 20 minutes getting nothing done, fighting and coming to me (washing dishes) to tattle on each other every 25 seconds.

Long story short, the Blocks, K'Nex and train set are now out in the garage until the next birthday (May 17). The younger one was pretty upset, but the older one who was the cause of most of the problem by yelling constantly and deliberately obstructing his brother from cleaning, seemed pretty blasé about it.

They have a little chart, and they get a reward when they fill it up by doing a good job cleaning, and I hate to be scolding and punitive all the time.

Now the little one is bitching (again) that he wants water.

[strategery blunder]

1. Hmm...let me get this straight...

"Long story short, the Blocks, K'Nex and train set are now out in the garage until the next birthday (May 17). The younger one was pretty upset, but the older one who was the cause of most of the problem by yelling constantly and deliberately obstructing his brother from cleaning, seemed pretty blasé about it."

Whose toys are in the garage? Don't tell me you punished the younger one when the older one was interfering with the younger one's ability to follow your instructions, because that doesn't make sense. :shrug:

Of course, if the toys you took away belong to the older one, aka the root of tonight's evil, that would make sense. I just want a clarification...:)

[alphafemale]

3. The "puttin away of the toys" is effective

It teaches siblings to resolve disputes and/or develop self-reliance on their own.

People are going to irritate you at times thoughout your life.
You still have to take care of your own stuff.

[UdoKier]

4. All the toys are joint property.

The blocks and K'nex are primarily used by the older, and the train by the younger.

The younger probably would have done better had the older set a better example, but he just fought and tattled mostly. If he had been making a real effort I would've spared the trains. Problem with punishing one and sparing the other is that it encourages the tattling which I absolutely hate. I just want them to cooperate and clean up together peacefully, even if they don't do a perfect job of it. Usually they do okay, tonight was not the norm...

[strategery blunder]

8. OK, I see now...

Tattling can be really annoying.;)

[murielm99]

2. I don't mind parent stories at all.

They bring back good memories.

I remember the time my two oldest kids were sharing a room while we did some remodeling upstairs. My daughter was 7 and my son 5.

I told them to to pick up toys. Nothing was getting done. So, I told them that I would be back in 20 minutes. I said, "When I get back, I don't want to see any Lego's on the floor. I don't want to see any doll clothes."

When I got back, the Lego's were put away. All the doll clothes were gone, too. My son had taken the clothes off all his sister's dolls and hidden them somewhere. She was furious, crying over her naked dolls.

[UdoKier]

5. Sometimes they get it all done REALLY fast.

That's when I can be sure that all the toys are stuck in some weird-ass place that they totally don't belong. It's hard not to laugh when I have to be mad at them for thinking I'm stupid and trying to pull one over on me...

[UdoKier]

6. Well, I just had a nice 10 minute cuddle with the 4yo.

That's the upside... Nothing better.

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. Eh...kids can be like that.

If it starts to get to you, just remember these sage words from Ralph Waldo Emerson: "A child is a curly, dimpled lunatic." Puts it in perspective.