Parenting OS tips

weegie_2

Yes Louisa - same weegie! Glad to know there are other people out there doing the exact same thing as me :-). The OS board is great and it's really helped me out.....I just need to put a little more of the tips into practice and try and not revert back to old ways.

Lyndsay_21

i am guilty of letting my 2 watch too much tv, they normally have it in the morning when their having breakfast and getting ready for nursery then when we get back from nursery sometimes at 12 sometimes at 2 depending on wether they've been to toddler group i normally put the telly on then whilst i'm having a tidy up/ making dinner, then its off. i still feel its too much but i also feel sometimes they need a bit of 'unwind' time to just relax.
On the subject of chores trying to get my 4yo DD to help with tidying upo is like trying to pull teeth she is a very 'willful' child and if she doesn't want to do something its very nearly impossible to get her to do it, Am i the only person with a child like this!! DS who's 2 is an angel and will pick up toys anytime i ask!

blessings3

No getting rid of my telly love x factor too much!! But do find having a routine helps to limit TV watching ie the kids know it goes of at 8 so they can get dressed for school etc off after a hour in the afternoon At the weekend or wet weather i do allow allitle more but tend to use it to breack up other activities and give me a bit of ''Down time'' Donnt wish to winge on about having a child with special needs but as he gets up at 5- 5.30 most mornings I'm afraid the TV keeps me sane and stops me being a zombie!

- We only allow dvds in bed on a Friday night which is also stay up night

cattie1

I'm sorry if someone has already said this and i'm sorry if it is not os but what I think is extremely important is manners
my children are 1 and 2 but know when and how to say please and thankyou
I find it really rude when people (including some adults) don't say please or thankyou. it's not hard!:mad: :rolleyes:
not only does it sound cute (cos they are so young) but it will become habit.
my 2year old also loves helping with housework -if I am washing up he gets a wet sponge and "cleans" the cupboards!;)
they also love it when i bake because they help and know they are going to get a cake at the end!:rolleyes:

broomstick27

Thought you might like this:

Today DS spilt a tiny bit of water on kitchen floor and was making a little bit of a fuss. OH said 'don't worry Mummy will clean it up' to which ds replied 'no daddy, me do it' :rotfl: and i passed him a cloth and he wiped it up.

cattie1

broomstick27 wrote:

Thought you might like this:

Today DS spilt a tiny bit of water on kitchen floor and was making a little bit of a fuss. OH said 'don't worry Mummy will clean it up' to which ds replied 'no daddy, me do it' :rotfl: and i passed him a cloth and he wiped it up.

oh bless! how cute!:A my kids also do this, if the spill some pop/ juice/anything of liquid form they say "uh-oh need towel" then go to the wash basket and get a dirty towel and clean it up!:rotfl:

helenhugs

Children are fantastic & sometimes it is hard to remember that when they are doing the things that wind you up. That is when you need to stop think about why exactly it is bothering you so much & more often than not its something that on a good day you wouldnt mind at all, maybe you are tired, had a bad day or just feel a bit grumpy for what ever reason.
My 2.5 year old daughter constantly asks WHY? at the moment, I know you know what I mean & it really got to me earlier & i snapped back at her because it is. I felt so guilty after I NEVER did that to my eldest, but then I only had him to worry about, not 3 other children aswell. He's very patient loving & kind & i think me always giving him a proper answer helped him to understand the world better. I just have to keep reminding myself of that when my daughter asks the same questions.
Children ask questions to learn, not just to irritate you,(although I'm sure they do that sometimes aswell).
So my OS tip is to try & be calm & remember that they are learning about the things around them & you are the best teacher in the world for your child.

hugs
Helen

pollys

Our television has recently broken (waiting for a part) at first my 4 children moaned and groaned even though we have restricted viewing they hated missing out on their hour of TV. They have playstations in their rooms but only the 10 year old is interested they don't watch TV in their rooms because there is no signal. We now do other things we play lots of board games, drawing, reading all things we used to do but we just do more of them instead of the hours TV. The children never even think about the Tv now, they havent asked when it's going to be mended, our 8 year old even suggested that we didn't need the TV mending because he's not bothered about it anymore and he's the one I thought would really miss his "cartoon fix". The key is to have alternative activities for dark nights and wet days (mine play out weather permitting) they might moan about playing boggle, kerplunk or cards at first but soon start to enjoy it. Their spelling is improving too;)

FZwanab

I just wanted to say I cancelled cable after much debate with oh as he loves sky sports and uk gold. However the difference in our lives has been amazing. My kids missed the tv channels boomerang, cbeebies, nick jnr. in the beginning but now they don't even think about it. They are out playing in the garden or with their friends instead and we make regular trips to our library for good books and they also have dvds too. My oh watches match of the day and any matches he just won't miss, he goes to his dad's house as he has sky sports there. With uk gold a lot of those programmes are on dvd now, so I have them for him when he needs his fix. I would love to get freeview, but c4 is my favourite channel so I am still paying the basic but our internet is with ntl and at the cheapest rate for our area so I am sticking with it for the time being. Drink wise for the kids we switched a month ago to plain tap water and haven't looked back, even for school lunches, they get oj at breakfast which contributes towards their five portions of fruit a day as you can only count juice once for one of these portions.

FZwanab

broomstick27 wrote:

Thought you might like this:

Today DS spilt a tiny bit of water on kitchen floor and was making a little bit of a fuss. OH said 'don't worry Mummy will clean it up' to which ds replied 'no daddy, me do it' :rotfl: and i passed him a cloth and he wiped it up.

Just wondered maybe oh training may also be necessary here. It might be handy to show oh how to clean things up as well as the kids!!