Whyyyyyyyyyyyy do they whiiiiiiiiiiiiine?
So I got this book. 1-2-3 Magic. It's not sitting in front of me, so I can't for the life of me remember the author, but it was recommended highly by a bunch of mom's from my Twin Mom group. For the most part, I feel like I yell too much. Really. I'm like that mom on Malcolm in the Middle some days. They're very good kids, I love them with all my heart and then some, but they each have their "quirks." I also have this "I don't know what I'm doing" feeling now and again, and sometimes I wonder if there's a "mom" instinct that comes with being pregnant that I just skipped over, but that's me being all insecure, and I'm sure I'll get over it. It's kind of like this- I always heard about the terrible twos, and age two was pretty bad with the tantrums, but I've found that part to be worse at three.
I don't play favorites, but Rob is much easier than EB. He's more rambunctious,destructive, and got his head caught in the railing once, (goofy kid), but for the most part, he's not all that demanding. He's cuddly, he likes to sit with me or at least know where I am, and I think he's afraid of getting lost because generally he sticks to me like glue if we're in a store. He's noisier in the respect that he plays with noisier toys. And toys that don't make noise can be used to bang against other toys in order TO make noise. But he's not much of a crier/complainer.
EB is very ... whiny. I mean, I forget that it's called Juice, because I only hear the word "Juuuuuuuuuuuuice!" As in... "I wannnnnnnnnnnt Juuuuuuuice please! Juuuuuuuuuuuuice!" And it will continue until she in fact gets juice. One one hand, I could not get her juice until that stops. One mom says she ignores all requests given in a whiny tone. I've timed it. She can go for over 1 hour on the same whine. Then on top of that, she's thirsty and cranky, so she's now in melt down mode. Here's your juice. Another said she spanks her kids if they whine and they catch on quick. I sort of save that for emergency use only - like if Rob is going to stick scissors in an electric socket... again, or if Rob runs towards the street because he sees the mailman... again, that sort of thing. But it drives me up a wall. Maybe it was because I was off work for a while from the operation and I was home all the time, or maybe she's doing it more often. And I know, I know, all kids whine. When we go see my parents? My mom whines back to her. It's amusing to watch, but equally annoying. "Youuuuu can't have Juuuuuice if you whiiiiiiiiine." Which again leads to melt down and my mom saying something about how her kids never acted like that, and obviously I'm doing something wrong, to which my response is usually "well, I came here, that was probably a mistake." And then she gets all mad. I love my mom. She cracks me up, seriously. To this day, she takes offense if I watch Mommy Dearest on TV. She's an awesome person who'd go out of her way to help anyone, but she also speaks her mind. And while I appreciate honesty in anyone - sugar coat it, would you? "I hope you didn't pay a lot for that hair cut, because you were robbed." It might sound bad in print, but it's funny as all get out in person. But yeah. She whines back.
In anycase, I bought and am reading this book. I wanted to get the DVD but it was like 40 bucks compared to 10 for the book, I figured my lazy ass could do some reading. It's not bad, I'm giving it a shot. I didn't like parts of it, such as the suggestion that kids need to be trained, sort of like animals, good behavior rewarded, bad behavior corrected. But the rest of it sort of makes sense.
So we're giving it a shot. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks if I have perfect children, or a script for Valium for myself. :)
I don't play favorites, but Rob is much easier than EB. He's more rambunctious,destructive, and got his head caught in the railing once, (goofy kid), but for the most part, he's not all that demanding. He's cuddly, he likes to sit with me or at least know where I am, and I think he's afraid of getting lost because generally he sticks to me like glue if we're in a store. He's noisier in the respect that he plays with noisier toys. And toys that don't make noise can be used to bang against other toys in order TO make noise. But he's not much of a crier/complainer.
EB is very ... whiny. I mean, I forget that it's called Juice, because I only hear the word "Juuuuuuuuuuuuice!" As in... "I wannnnnnnnnnnt Juuuuuuuice please! Juuuuuuuuuuuuice!" And it will continue until she in fact gets juice. One one hand, I could not get her juice until that stops. One mom says she ignores all requests given in a whiny tone. I've timed it. She can go for over 1 hour on the same whine. Then on top of that, she's thirsty and cranky, so she's now in melt down mode. Here's your juice. Another said she spanks her kids if they whine and they catch on quick. I sort of save that for emergency use only - like if Rob is going to stick scissors in an electric socket... again, or if Rob runs towards the street because he sees the mailman... again, that sort of thing. But it drives me up a wall. Maybe it was because I was off work for a while from the operation and I was home all the time, or maybe she's doing it more often. And I know, I know, all kids whine. When we go see my parents? My mom whines back to her. It's amusing to watch, but equally annoying. "Youuuuu can't have Juuuuuice if you whiiiiiiiiine." Which again leads to melt down and my mom saying something about how her kids never acted like that, and obviously I'm doing something wrong, to which my response is usually "well, I came here, that was probably a mistake." And then she gets all mad. I love my mom. She cracks me up, seriously. To this day, she takes offense if I watch Mommy Dearest on TV. She's an awesome person who'd go out of her way to help anyone, but she also speaks her mind. And while I appreciate honesty in anyone - sugar coat it, would you? "I hope you didn't pay a lot for that hair cut, because you were robbed." It might sound bad in print, but it's funny as all get out in person. But yeah. She whines back.
In anycase, I bought and am reading this book. I wanted to get the DVD but it was like 40 bucks compared to 10 for the book, I figured my lazy ass could do some reading. It's not bad, I'm giving it a shot. I didn't like parts of it, such as the suggestion that kids need to be trained, sort of like animals, good behavior rewarded, bad behavior corrected. But the rest of it sort of makes sense.
So we're giving it a shot. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks if I have perfect children, or a script for Valium for myself. :)