Pittsburgh Nesties
egpitt22
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
making it out of the house with kids
I'm not looking for a magical solution here, more just posting in the hopes that someone either has a solution I haven't tried yet and/or just to give people a space to commiserate with me!
My frustration level with trying to make it out of the house with the kids is at an all-time high. You would think it would have been harder when they were babies and there was all the gear, and the diaper changes, etc.....but somehow I feel like it's more challenging now that they're so easily distracted! I can understand a bit more when we're going somewhere like school that they aren't exactly motivated to leave the house in a timely manner (still really frustrating for me, but at least I get it a little more for them) but other times when we're going somewhere fun?? WHY? Why does it take so long to make it out the door?
Example-yesterday we were going to a playdate at a friend's house. They were both super excited to go, asked all morning when we could leave...so you would think that when it was time to get ready to leave and walk out the door they would just do it right? WRONG. I must have asked them each 5 times to get dressed and brush their teeth. Then again to get their coats and shoes on. I eventually got so frustrated that I just sat down on the couch and let them wander around aimlessly, getting distracted by every single thing in the room until finally Jake noticed the clock said 9:57 and he knew we were supposed to be there at 10. Then he got all upset that we were going to be late, so I calmly pointed out that I had been ready for quite some time and if he was in that much of a hurry, perhaps he should go out to the garage and put on his coat and shoes then get himself into the car. I ran upstairs at that point to get my keys that I left in my room and you know what I came back down to?? Him, in the garage, no shoes or coat on, dribbling a basketball.
~X(
My frustration level with trying to make it out of the house with the kids is at an all-time high. You would think it would have been harder when they were babies and there was all the gear, and the diaper changes, etc.....but somehow I feel like it's more challenging now that they're so easily distracted! I can understand a bit more when we're going somewhere like school that they aren't exactly motivated to leave the house in a timely manner (still really frustrating for me, but at least I get it a little more for them) but other times when we're going somewhere fun?? WHY? Why does it take so long to make it out the door?
Example-yesterday we were going to a playdate at a friend's house. They were both super excited to go, asked all morning when we could leave...so you would think that when it was time to get ready to leave and walk out the door they would just do it right? WRONG. I must have asked them each 5 times to get dressed and brush their teeth. Then again to get their coats and shoes on. I eventually got so frustrated that I just sat down on the couch and let them wander around aimlessly, getting distracted by every single thing in the room until finally Jake noticed the clock said 9:57 and he knew we were supposed to be there at 10. Then he got all upset that we were going to be late, so I calmly pointed out that I had been ready for quite some time and if he was in that much of a hurry, perhaps he should go out to the garage and put on his coat and shoes then get himself into the car. I ran upstairs at that point to get my keys that I left in my room and you know what I came back down to?? Him, in the garage, no shoes or coat on, dribbling a basketball.
~X(
Re: making it out of the house with kids
I would love to just say oh well we won't go but for things like parties where we have RSVPed I don't feel like we can. But other things like play dates I let her know we are late, etc.
We just started trying a timer again with dd. before I used a physical timer but now I'm using an app on my iPad. I'm assuming the novelty will wear off but for now she is LOVING it. She wants to use the timer for everything. The one we have plays music and shows a picture as you get close to the end.
We talked to the pedi about it yesterday at our consult and she said timers are great because it takes the "nagging" off the parent. You are less frustrated and your kid isn't annoyed at you nagging them. Plus it gives them some independence.
LOL, my DH worse than the kids! If I say we're leaving at 11:15, it's at 11:15 that he decides to go to the bathroom, look for his wallet/keys, finally make it into the car, once in the car, get back out to get a bottle of water, etc. etc. etc. It also takes him forever to get out of the car once we arrive somewhere. I have left him at home or in the car, because I don't have the patience to wait. Ain't nobody got time for that!
For the kids I have done the "Bye, I'm leaving" trick. Sometimes it works, sometimes it backfires because the kids freak out and start crying. I will also give them 10 seconds to get ready and start counting down. If they're not ready in 10 seconds, then I will put one of their toys in time out for the day or something like that. I haven't found anything that works every time. Usually I end up yelling, and getting their coats and shoes on for them.
She was doing so good there for awhile. We did great for about a month or two, and now we're right back where we started.
And we have a checklist that works good up until about the put on socks/shoes step. At that point things seem to come to a complete stop. I've found that I can't just say, "Go put on your shoes and coat." because it will never happen. However, if I hand her her socks, shoes, coat and say "Put these on" the success rate is much higher. Granted, that is extra work on my part, but it does help us get out the door.
DH's tactic usually involves starting much much earlier than she has to be ready and involves some yelling, because the process is much more drawn out :-P
Going someplace fun is an issue, but lately Todd is being especially bad when we have to leave someplace fun. We've visited grandparents the past two weekends, and when it was time to leave he became a limp pile of flesh. Not only annoying, but makes his grandparents feel like crap. :-/
When leaving the house, it often helps to take our stuff out to the car and tell them they need to be ready when I return. Racing me or using a timer sometimes works, too. I agree that nothing works consistently except time. Heather is better than she used to be. Not perfect, but better.