Tips for making it through the day?

[Michele]

I lose it about dinner time every day. I have no more energy. And I'm completely out of patience at this point. 13h of kids awake and moving and I'm ready to crash. But I need to make it two more hours. Any ideas?

I did take a nap with the kids today. I got about 30 min of sleep. I'm chugging 6-8 cans of diet coke a day. Yes I know how bad that is for me. But I'm beat! The thought of having to do today all over again (while mostly fun) is exhausting! There's no school here tomorrow.

Any ideas for how to calm the boys and get them winding down for bed and bath? Ideas for when they are super charged up....when they won't sit still for a movie or a puzzle or coloring?

I think I just need new ideas...

[diggitydot]

Teach them the graveyard game?

[Michele]

Graveyard game? Is that like dead dragon?

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Graveyard game? Is that like dead dragon?

I don't know what either of these are

[houseelf]

No advice just commiseration. Parenting is a marathon not a sprint. Pace yourself, take care of yourself, and take the long view. That is all I got.

[diggitydot]

Whomever is the most quiet and still the longest wins the graveyard game.

[Michele]

Dead Dragon is a game that Daegan said his friend in Louisiana taught him. I don't know if it's a made-up game or a real game, but it basically just involves playing "dead". He hasn't mentioned it in a while.

Maybe it was something her parents taught her in an attempt to calm her! . My dad loves to tell them to "shhh let's listen to the birds."

I'll have to try the graveyard game!

[L.Jane]

We had a rhyme as a kids

Quite in the courtyard,
Quiet in the street,
the biggest fool in this room,
is now about to speak.
Speak fool speak.

Obviously the first person to speak was the fool. Although sometimes it backfired and someone was trying to be the fool.

[Thirteen]

There are about 2 hours in the day (mid afternoon) where I am literally laying in the floor and letting DS crawl all over me. I used to feel guilty, but I must lay down to recharge, or none of us will survive.

I also pray a lot and take deep breaths.


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[GreyhoundsRUs]

Dead Dragon is a game that Daegan said his friend in Louisiana taught him. I don't know if it's a made-up game or a real game, but it basically just involves playing "dead". He hasn't mentioned it in a while.

Maybe it was something her parents taught her in an attempt to calm her! . My dad loves to tell them to "shhh let's listen to the birds."

I'll have to try the graveyard game!

I like the idea of listening for something (or nothing!). Maybe have them write or draw their favorite thing from the day or one thing that made them happy/one that made them sad? What about having a checklist of what the bedtime routine is? You could even include pictures of what the clock looks like when it's time to do different things.

One trick I used when babysitting was to have the kids close their eyes during commercials and I would tell them when to open them

[Vishenka69]

I'm also guilty of just lying on the floor and letting DD do whatever to me. She likes when we get down to her eye level. And she watches way too much cartoons on sick/bad weather days.

[spotty_dog]

Until you're getting 6 hour stretches reliably, all bets are off. Just survive and sleep when you can.

But...you're talking about 15 hours from morning to bedtime? If any one of your kids is awake for that whole stretch, I'm wondering if that's not too little, making them a little wired and hard to wind down in the evening...not that you have loads of time for reading, but Sleepless in America lays out some good (gentle parenting friendly) stuff on the whys and hows of helping kids sleep a little more for better behavior, better health, and better sleep.

[MrsK]

It's the witching hour. The kids always go nuts between 4 and 6 PM when I have to make dinner. K1 gets particularly wild at that time and nearly always ends up in time out. I think it's hard for him to figure out what he should be doing then so running around the sofa and jumping on the baby's back seem like logical options. I've been trying to institute a quiet hour around that time. Taping paper to the kitchen table and letting him stamp, giving him a sheet of stickers (which he stuck all over the baby), letting him watch a DVD, giving him quiet/busy bag toys that are only played with then have worked. Today, he spent about 40 minutes playing with an empty parmesan shaker, dried penne, and pipe cleaners. Also, letting him "help" cook or clean works. He can load silverware in the dishwasher, put the baby bottles and tupperware in bins under the cabinet, wipe baseboards with a rag, put things in his clothes hamper...I put him to work and he loves it.

[MrsK]

Also, I find that turning the volume way down at that time helps too. Dimming lights, turning off the dryer/dish washer or anything else that makes extra noise, if we are watching DVDs, keeping the sound low so he has to be very quiet to hear..

[Pollyanna]

Based on your schedules and early wake times for the kiddos my best guess is that no one is sleeping enough and that will lead to rowdy, hard to settle children. Plus it builds on itself, the more over tired the less likely the kids will sleep well. If you can figure out a way for better sleep I think that will let you sleep better and make it easier to get through the day.