First it was the battle over changing his pull-up before nursing; then over helping make pancakes (he declared the dry ingredients he was stirring “mine,” screaming); what to have for lunch; what to have for snacks; not going onto every porch of every house we passed; and a dozen other little things.
BUT the schedule, for whatever reason, is making the craziness more bearable. I have a suspicion that it makes me feel in control of the larger aspects of the day. I build in a lot of choice and flexibility for him, but the flow of the day is in my hands. Before if he had a tantrum over not wanting to get dressed it unraveled the whole day. I got really tired of failing at managing a small tyrant.
Today we did an art lesson after a lovely trip outside–we chased the garbage truck all the way to the end of our long road and back–on collage with pieces of interestingly texured paper. It was a lot of fun, except that I should have kept it to about ten minutes. He started acting up after that, which isn’t surprising given that it was almost lunch time and he must have been hungry after all that running.
Our nap didn’t go as scheduled because he slept in so late this morning. I’m amazed I didn’t lose it without that good chunk of time to myself. I did leave him in his room for quiet time and listened to make sure he was safe, so at least I got to sit down.
Once again he was crazy happy about circle time; again he requested it several times through the course of the day. One time he asked to be the teacher, and gave me stickers for sitting nicely! He picked the song and read a book to me. It was too cute.
I’m feeling a lot less stressed and angry since we started this. I know we’ve only tried it on two days but I have high hopes.
For us, having a schedule makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE. When they melt down and there’s not “next thing” in sight to move them towards, you’re just stuck in a vortex of cranky (the kids and the mom!), but if you have something you’re trying to get to, and keep changing their focus and attention from thing to thing, the day goes so much more quickly (and smoothly!). Glad it’s helping for you!
I was tying to think of a way to explain why the schedule works, and you nailed it–that there is always a “next thing.”