Sally Brooks

There's a sign in my house that says, "You can write anything in the
dust, just not the date." My mother made it for me. It matches hers.

evelyns92

--- In [email protected], "Sally Brooks"
<rmsbrx@p...> wrote:
> There's a sign in my house that says, "You can write anything in
the
> dust, just not the date." My mother made it for me. It matches
hers.


My mother has a sign in her house that says "My house was clean
yesterday. Sorry you missed it."

[email protected]

I used to have one that said:

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, we've learned to our sorrow,
So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby, cause babies don't keep.

Nancy B.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Melissa

--- In [email protected], CelticFrau@a... wrote:

<<Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow, For children grow
up, we've learned to our sorrow, So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to
sleep. I'm rocking my baby, cause babies don't keep.

Nancy B.>>


I love this...I think it struck a cord with me because, earilier
today my DD asked me to play a computer game with her and I told her
that I "had" to clean the kitchen first. I got halfway between the
computer and the kitchen, stopped, turned around, went back, told
her I was sorry that the kitchen could wait, and played her game
with her. She was so happy that I didn't care if the dishes rotted
in the sink! :) She only played for about 5 minutes but, I know
that it will stick with her, that I found HER more important than
the housework.

Melissa

[email protected]

In a message dated 2/25/04 10:51:36 AM Eastern Standard Time,
melissa4123@... writes:

> She only played for about 5 minutes but, I know
> that it will stick with her, that I found HER more important than
> the housework.
>
>

That is so sweet. Sometimes, at a local play group, we talk about housework.
It is so hard for some moms to see that. I told a Mom yesterday, when she
said that having fun was way down on her list, that fun needs to be at the top.
Her children smiled and agreed.

That same Mom then turned around and scolded her one daughter for not wanting
to leave play group and told her she would have to sit time out at play group
next week for not being fast enough in getting ready to leave this time.

Sad

Pam G


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Melissa

--- In [email protected], Genant2@a... wrote:

<<That same Mom then turned around and scolded her one daughter for
not wanting to leave play group and told her she would have to sit
time out at play group next week for not being fast enough in
getting ready to leave this time. Sad
Pam G>>

This reminds me of our last playgroup, nothing like this happened
though I have seen moms get upset because the child wants to stay
longer at the park. My goodness, what difference does in make if we
stay at the park for another half an hour? I try to make sure that
I don't have any other, pressing, things to do during a play group
day, just in case Karen wants to stay for a while.

But, on to my point, during the last play group, Karen was at the
door, with her shoes on yelling "come on mom, it's time to go to
Nana and Papa's house." I was the one not wanting to leave, I was
having a good time drinking coffee and catching up with
everyone. :) Alas, after a minute and her opening the door and
draging me out, we made it to Nana and Papa's.

Melissa

J. Stauffer

<<<<My goodness, what difference does in make if we
> stay at the park for another half an hour? >>>>

You don't know what that family may have going. We have a park day that we
love. But with 5 kids, somebody always has something they need to do. So
we can go to parkday, but we need to leave by a certain time. It is all
agreed upon and discussed ahead of time. Still, sometimes the kids would
rather stay and play....all except the one who has something else planned
afterward. I can be unfair to the child with something planned.....or I can
sometimes make a child leave when they agreed to even though they don't want
to now.

Julie S.

Marti

At 12:38 PM 02/25/2004, you wrote:
>My goodness, what difference does in make if we
>stay at the park for another half an hour?

In our case, with four girls, all different ages, it really depends on our
schedule. We often do have to leave an event at certain time, to get to the
next event on time.

I let the girls know ahead of time when this is happening, though... "When
I say we have ten more minutes, that's ALL we have, so get ready to go at
that time."

If we're on a looser schedule, I usually give them a 1/2 hour warning, then
15 minutes, etc. One of my girls, especially, does better when it's not an
abrupt "It's time to go right now" with no warning. Giving her a countdown
works well for her attitude toward leaving.

And it still usually stretches longer, as gathering my girls is somewhat
like gathering marbles... by the time you get one together, the others have
rolled off elsewhere ;-)

Marti
Smithsburg MD

Melissa

--- In [email protected], Marti <marti@g...>
wrote:

<<One of my girls, especially, does better when it's not an
abrupt "It's time to go right now" with no warning. Giving her a
countdown works well for her attitude toward leaving.>>

I started doing this recently (maybe about 3 or so months ago) with
my DD. I started it because she always wants to pet her dog after
dark which means that the back door is open and it is COLD. So, I
give her 5 to 15 minutes (depending on how cold) and count down for
her. Before, when I would just tell her to give the dog a kiss and
close the door, it was always a fight. Now, as long as I give her
warning of what is coming and how long she has, I haven't had a
problem.

We were at my in-laws house the other night and she was running
around like crazy at 10 pm. I knew that she was just over-tired
and, as soon as she stopped moving, she would crash (she knew this
too which is why she just kept moving). :) There was a play slide
she was playing on. I told her 10 minutes and then we put the slide
outside. I counted down for her until her 10 minutes were up and
then said "ok, mommy's going to put the slide away now." She
said "ok, mommy and then read." My MIL was thunderstruck that she
didn't put up any fight at all.

It has made life soooo much easier without all the butting of heads,
Melissa