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| Thu, 04-19-2007 - 3:23pm |
I am a SAH mom of 2, one on the way and babysit 2 other kids. I sometimes feel overwhelmed by all thats going on, and find it hard to balance everything on a daily basis. Is it normal to feel frazzled, aggrivated and overly anxious or do you all think irs something more internal? Sometimes it causes me to become angry and then start yelling at the kids, which I dont like. I have been home now for 2 years and sometimes I wonder if having free time to think is causing me to become overly paranoid about my feelings. Is this normal??? All comments welcome.

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I think it's normal to have those moments of feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with the kids, especially when your pregnant!
Gothcha, you definately need some alone time for yourself, just to get your bearings back and feel better!
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Stay-At-Home Moms
Hi, I'm Tara a SAHM to Abbie 4, Lilli 2, and Bree 13 months. You are definately not alone in feeling this way! I have found that the only way to get pass the yelling and anger is a few things,
1) Get down on their level and make them look you in the eyes when you are explaining something to them CALMLY. If they look away, start over with getting eye contact and start explaining from the start, but make it short and to the point.
2) When all heck breaks loose, get them seperated and start the rounds talking to them starting from the youngest up.
3) Have a BASIC structure/schedule to your day, most kids will do wonders for you if they are on a schedule.
Now this probably seems so Super Nanny (I actually can't stand those shows!), but I swear it works. When I first started doing this it was like the worst/most uncomfortable thing to get through...and btw I hate schedules and I grew up in a yelling house. But try it for 1 week and see what happens. I can honestly say that the whole anxiety driven feelings have been cut in half. Hope someone can take something from this! Best of luck =)
Tara
Tara,
I think that is great advice! I must admit that my weakness is schedules. I have had that issue with all of my kids -- I have always done child-led nursing, sleeping, playing, etc. Only problem is when they are older (like Layla who is 4) her schedule is totally off!
I am going to try to get everyone on a schedule, any tips for easing into it with a headstrong pre-schooler???
My kids always set the schedule around here too. But my 4 year old really needed to be on one.
We started by setting a solid time for lunch and snacks. Then went to when the 2 youngest are asleep, Abbie and I clean the kitchen and the living room and if there is time left we do something special (there usually is). Luckily Abbie loves to clean! After we mastered nap/cleaning time, we established what chore gets done on a specific day of the week for example Mon. we pick up from the weekend, Tues. is the girls bathroom, Wed. we wipe all the kitchen cupboards down and scrub the kitchen floor really good, Thurs. we do my bathroom, Fri. we dust and make sure the house is really picked up for the weekend. Then Abbie has to have her room clean by Tues or she will not go to dance (she has lost dance twice). She gets to vacuum it and she has found after 5 weeks now that the cleaner she keeps it during the week, the easier it is. Lilli is only 2 and knows that her job is to put all the dirty laundry in the laundry room after afternoon snack. Like I said BASIC. Let life lead, but keep some structure. I only do windows or deep cleaning when I see something needs it. Or if I need to do something big I let the girls choose a movie to watch when Bree is down for her AM nap.
I just started this schedule about 5-6 weeks ago and there is hardly any yelling or fighting because we all know what is going on and when. The other big thing that is great for kids is star charts. For example, Abbie gets a star if she remembers to pick up her toys after she plays with them. Lilli gets one if she stays in her seat at the table. 10 stars = a special treat or they can save them up.
HTH
Tara
My name is Lesley, and I am on day 5 of not yelling ....
LOL
Really though, I am. I had it with the noise level in this house, and then it hit me that the kids would yell (mainly my older dd) then I would yell so she could hear me, or so I could prove that I was boss,
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