Do I expect too much from children

girleight@

Have them watch this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lvt9g

thriftlady_2

sooz wrote: »

It's amazing the powers of that bin bag

Oh the wonderful all-powerful bin bag. His name has been invoked countless times over the last 14 years in my house:D

This is a no-brainer really. You are not expecting too much from your children by asking them to tidy up. Teaching them this kind of responsibility is the opposite of bad parenting;) You are right and your family are just plain wrong.

*Louise*

thriftlady wrote: »

Oh the wonderful all-powerful bin bag. His name has been invoked countless times over the last 14 years in my house:D

My mum used to do that when we were kids - but we found that if she put everything in a bag, it saved us from picking it up, and we could get the bag and put the stuff away after.

After that - she opened the window and threw our stuff outside. Only once, but it was enough to scare the heck out of us :eek:

Takoda

milliebear00001 wrote: »

If there were more parents like you, I'd be a happier teacher! LOTS of children come into school expecting somebody else to pick up after them/fasten their coat/wipe their nose/tie their shoes/give them a pen or pencil/PE kit cos they forgot theirs.

You are absolutely right in teaching her a wider, and very important, lesson in personal responsibility.

Seconded. :D:D:D:D

dementeddame

Hi op,
I constantly have to tell my DD to tidy her room (she's 9 on Saturday)
and i found saying the following to her made her hot foot it up the stairs and tidy her room.

"Ok let's do a switch, you buy,wash and iron clothes also buy,cook food and wash up then tidy and hoover living room,bathroom,my bedroom and kitchen,
and i will tidy your bedroom"

It works everytime for me!!!

To answer your orginally post, no i don't think your a monster.

ManOnTheMoon

Start them young. We all learn from an early age and you are teaching them what any good parent would.

It's your home, your rules and your family should respect that.

My girls started as soon as they could understand. The odd expected tantrum here and there aside, i've brought them up pretty well I think and that includes asking them to do chores and leaving things how they found them.

Ellie67

I think kids should tidy up and help out as much as possible. I'm currently working 2 jobs and I leave a list of manageable things that my kids have to do while I'm at work. My mum minds them and she dried dishes the other day when it was actually my eldest girl's job. I was mad and told my mum to hold back cos she wasn't doing them any favours. They get everything they want and need but only after they have given me a hand to keep the house tidy.
Plus it's good for them for the future when they go to Uni and also the odds are that they will be working mothers themselves and may just appreciate what I'm trying to do!!

bylromarha

My 3 year old knows to put her clothes away and where they go-has been doing it since 2.5. I don't expect her to hang them up, but she knows how to pair socks, which drawers her t-shirts, pants etc go in.

Her room has a place for everything and she knows where they are.

My 5 yr old is the same- has been doing his clothes, starting to hang things up.

Both put away drying up and sort the knives and forks into the right compartments.

Am currently SAHM who used to be a reception teacher-it scared me how many kids used to expect me to do their zips, show them how to lay a table, pick up everything for them-and then I saw them bought to school in a buggy and realised why...! Kids weren't being given a chance to learn, bless em.

jellyhead

We were talking about buggies today, how they'll be tired after a week of full-time school (they're summer children, only just 4 and my friend's boy still wants an afternoon sleep sometimes) and it would be so much easier for gymnastics on a friday if I could put my 4 year old in a pram with a drink and snack, and push him the mile to gymnastics because he won't walk it in 20 minutes, not with the school traffic making the roads a nightmare, and him being tired from school.

but we all agreed that you just can't use a buggy for a 4 year old. annoying really, because most of the kids don't have to walk any further than to where mum's parked the car which surely is no different to being pushed to school in a pram.

bylromarha

One day a week if time is of the essence is understandable, but every single day to and from school at the age of 4. nooooo!

Borrow a baby jellyhead! That way you can buggyboard the 4 yr old! DS is an August boy and DD's buggy with a buggy board was a great solution for those tired days!