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I hate the summertime

June 30th, 2008 at 08:23 pm

I just want to cry on days like today

Summertime when all four kids and both dogs are home... and I have to work at home... my kids are soooo bad. Its amazing any of us make it out alive.

My DH was away for a 3 week business trip, so I've been doing it all on my own. No family... we're military... family is a word reserved for people who live AT LEAST 1000 miles away.

Before the end of the school year, I bought my son his first reader book for preschool... my EIGHT YEAR OLD decided she wanted to write in it.

SO I told her she had to pay for it... $10

Forget the fact that she is not allowed in my office which is the only place that pens and pencils are found in this house.

Now today was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Last Christmas, we bought my 4 y/o a SmartCycle... he LOVED it. $100 we paid at the time. For Christmas this year I was going to get him some other games, he's been really wanting the Hot Wheels game.

Today my oldest two daughter wanted to play tug of war with the cord to see "who would win".... the cord is stripped. They might as well have taken scissors to it.

I'm somewhere between just wanting to cry and just being livid. It hurts me that my son doesn't have very many toys to begin with... and they are always breaking his... and of all things, my OLDEST is the one doing this.

I told her... she's not going back to horseback riding (equivalent of $31.25 a lesson) until she's saved up the money to get him a new one. Of course though, she is 8... so the only way she can earn that money back is not going to horseback riding.

I don't have the money to just buy him a new one... oh and they also broke the extra PS2 we had... the TV in the playroom was broken a long time ago too.

I give up... what do you do? Am I just not allowed to have anything nice for myself or for the kids while they are young? (I say this as my 4 year old finds a string off of our couch pillow - which is 7 years old - and pulls)

*Ugh*

So not really finance related... but it does make me think... what is the point of buying anything nice when anything nice we do have for them they break anyway?

7 Responses to “I hate the summertime”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1214855041

    Oh, I feel for you! My daughter's sure get on each other's nerves sometimes and I'm not trying to work at the same time. Bless you!

    How about some quite alone time for the older ones...in their own rooms or space? Is there an older child in the neighborhood who could watch them in your yard for an hour or two. And...if you can, try to give the oldest some one on one attention that may help.

  2. Paula Says:
    1214860338

    Nothing like playing OUTSIDE to work off some of the orneriness! Seriously, set up a homemade "Slip and Slide" (blue utility tarp, bottle of dish soap, and water hose) and let them play. Allow them to set up a tent in the yard so they can play all afternoon. Set up skateboards, roller blades, tricycles, bikes, etc. to ride up and down the driveway. Take them on a picnic to the park and let them run WILD! HA!

    Kids have way TOO much energy to spend all day in the house in front of a TV--they end up picking at each other and fighting. Get rid of the video games and encourage them to play outdoors; you'll see a BIG improvement in their attitudes!

  3. merch Says:
    1214860397

    Sounds like they don't respect you or other people's things. It's just discipline and removing privileges.

    The other thing you could try is one on one time. Sometimes kids act up because they aren't getting enough attention. She may feel that the youngest is getting all your attention and there isn't enough for her.

    It might only take a half an hour of time a day.

    Good luck. (I think it's just finding the underlying cause.)

  4. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    1214863371

    Maybe they actually are too young for those expensive toys. Sounds as if they are inspired to find more versatility in the toys than is good for the toys. It shows they do have a little creativity if they see the tug-of-war prospect in the cord to a Smart Cycle! But maybe you could make sure they do have a supply of very versatile play objects. I say play objects, because it would not necessarily be things that are sold as toys. For example, they tugged on the cord---I think your kids are trying to tell you that they need some real rope! Rope would have a zillion applications for a kid. Tug of war, tie things up, tie around waists and struggle against each other and try to lead each other around (outside!), jumprope. Pull a wagon from a long distance away.... Tie onto a branch and swing a_la Tarzan.....

    Lower things to the ground down from a tree. Hoist sandwiches and carrot sticks in a box up into a raised playhouse and have lunch up there. Tie the rope tight between poles and try to walk it. Cut the ends of of tin cans and thread them onto the rope like giant beads, then raise and lower the rope to make the "beads slide from one person to another at the other end of the rope. Fill a bucket with water, tie the rope to the bucket handle and spin the bucket in an every enlarging circle from the end of the rope, trying not to spill a drop of water. Try to make a lasso and see if you can catch anything with it.

    Stack a bunch of small empty boxes and snap the rope at it to see how many boxes you can pop off of the stack. Big kid can tie the rope to the tricycle of little kid and be little kid's horse for the little kid's chariot. Tie rope to a heavy piece of cardboard or a heavy cardboard box and tow each other around sitting on the cardboard.

    Try to make a bow from the rope and some bendy sticks. Try to crack the rope like a bullwhip. Make waves flow though the rope held by two kids who waggle each their rope ends vertically. Throw the rope over a tree branch and tie the ends together forming a circle. They can then climb up with one foot in the circle and swing standing up.

    Make a giant braid with the rope. Twist the length upon itself and see how it makes yet a thicker, sturdier rope that way. Unravel the rope and see how it is really made of small strings. Lay the rope on the ground in a straight long line. Put sticks or pieces of paper at various intervals along the rope. Now quickly snap the rope upward at one end and see the sticks or papers launched skyward one after the other as the wave propagates down the rope.

    Dangle one end of a rope over the front porch with a basket, bucket, or box tied to the other end. At the basket end where one child can hide have that child put various toys, one or more into the basket. Let the child on the other end, up on the porch lift the basket a bit to feel the weight and listen for any telling rattles, then try to guess what toys are in the basket.

    Cut Off a piece of rope and soak it in water then put it in the freezer to see how it becomes stiff when frozen. With Mom's help, cut off a piece of rope and soak it in hot paraffin or hot melted crayons (!). Set it aside and see how it hardens as it cools. Find a sidewalk crack and stuff the rope in it using a table knife to push it in. Find a sidewalk crack the is full off weeds and remove the weeds. Now stuff a paraffin soaked rope into the crack and leave it there all summer. Do the weeds grow back?

    If your kids are really lucky, they will have a few pulleys around so they can see how magically strong they can be with a rope and some pulleys. The older child might be able to do giant sized cat-in-the-cradle games. Cut a whole bunch of pieces of rope and lay them parallel on a hard surface like a concrete patio. Set a board on top of the rope pieces. Now let one child sit on the board and be pushed a few feet along by the other with the pieces of rope acting as tiny wheels under the board.

    On a windy day take the rope outside with pieces of paper, maybe half a newspaper page. Finger punch holes in the middle of the paper. Thread the paper onto the rope held in the direction of the wind and watch the wind carry the paper from one end to the other. Try to unwind the rope a little in a middle section only. Put a little monkey doll's hand into the open spot and let the rope close back down on it, so that it looks like the monkey is holding on. Perhaps other stuffed animals would like to hold onto the rope, too.

    Tie the rope around a door handle. Open or close the door by pulling the rope. Now press the rope, still tied to the door handle, around corners of furniture--the posts of a bed would be good. Pull the rope to see how one can actually pull the same rope in a different direction and still accomplish the task of open/closing the door.

    Be a goof ball, embarrass your Mom and wear your rope as a belt like Jethro. Or worse yet, tie pieces of the rope to your front and back belt loops to hold up you pants like suspenders. Tie a rope to your wagon and then to the back of your bike and take all your stuffed animals for a ride. Look at the horse's bridle at the stable and see if you can make one with your rope.

    Push sticks in the ground and then zig zag your rope around the sticks Just to see how it looks, and maybe to jump over the rope. Can you find taller sticks and tie the rope out higher? How high can you get it and still jump over it?

    ...These are the sorts of things your kids have in mind when they ruin a cord for an electronic toy.

  5. Swimgirl Says:
    1214870233

    I have four kids, too.

    You need to get to the park or the pool! Take a picnic, take some sand or water toys and get out!

    I try to plan exhausting outings for the morning (drive to a new playground, hunt for bugs, collect rocks on a walk, take sketchbooks and draw things that are red that you see, , eat lunch while we're out, and then come home for part of the afternoon. I set the timer for ALL kids (not your baby, but a four year old could certainly handle it) and we have "Books on bed." I go to my bed and read, too. Kids have to stay on the bed until the timer goes off. (I started with 15 minutes, gradually increasing) They can take whatever books/magazines they want to, but they can't get up (get water, bathroom before setting timer)!

    The other thing I do is make lists for jobs around the house for the kids, even little ones. You can think of SOMETHING that they can do to be helpful (I once had a 2 1/2 year old cleaning the baseboards!) Not huge jobs, but something so that they are helping out (and taking a tiny bit of weight off of you) and you can praise them and "catch them being good." Ideas: wipe the kitchen cabinets, use the lint-roller to get cat hair off the couch, put silverware away from the dishwasher, put newspapers in a bag to recycle, dust a small piece of furniture, water plant, etc. I give my kids three jobs a day (and NOT their rooms) so that they are helping the family a little, but not much.

    Love some of the ideas above. If they're not in your house, though, they can't be wrecking stuff. I don't think an eight year old can really understand the cause/effect of some of the disasters you described. Perhaps some of those toys should be with adult help only.

    Right before dinner (when I'm trying to cook and everyone is tired) is the time when I might let them watch a short movie or part of a movie (summer only). I think they are craving a way to wind down at that point.

    Four kids is a lot to juggle. Hang in there. But I really recommend figuring out a routine (it seems like more work to get them out, but it's not) that you can all live with. And there were several years there when I only checked email when they were all in bed!

    Good luck!

  6. compulsive debtor Says:
    1214871901

    Have you thought about getting with some other military moms that you know who are in the same boat and setting up some kind of babysitting rotation? One day a week the kids are with mom A, the next day with mom B, etc.? That way each mom gets some time off -- even if it's just a few hours?

  7. AmbitiousSaver Says:
    1214881871

    Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. Its definitely given me a lot of ideas to go off of

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