While in the park the other day, a Mom was trying to round up her two boys to head home for lunch.
Let's go Alexander and Matthew! Time for lunch! She called to them. Alexander and Matthew ignored her and kept playing. Let's go!! She tried again, a little bit more sternly. Still no response.
She then ventured into the playground and attempted to grab one of the boys. He was far too agile for her and darted under the slide. She lunged for him again with no luck.
Do you want a gummy worm?! Mmmmmm!! She said, attempting to bribe the boys. You can have a gummy worm! The boys weren't fooled.
Ok, fine. You can have five more minutes. The mom resigned herself to more playground time and parked herself on the swing.
I gratefully walked out of the park with my girls, who still don't move fast enough to avoid me. We enjoyed a snack on our blanket a few metres away from the playground.
Thirty minutes later, the Mom and her boys leave the park.
No judgement. I can only imagine how tough it is to get kids out of the park when they're having a blast. Quinn already throws a fit when we have to leave the park.
How do you get your kids to do something that they do not want to do?
I think we've all had moments like this. Maybe mom didn't have anything else going on and decided to just let them play. I've done that. Made the decision to just, screw it, let them play more.
ReplyDeleteI always give my kids count down warnings. You have 5 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute.
I sometimes threaten. :)
Sometimes there are tears.
I've done this before when I've just been too tired or overwhelmed or lazy to come up with a creative solution. A few times this past school year, I bribed the kids with a piece of gum to get them to hurry up and get ready. They only got to chew it for a few minutes because I made them spit it out as soon as we got to Ian's daycare. I felt like a bad parent but the result was that we were all happy and there was no drama, so I didn't see the harm in doing it every once in a while when I was at my wit's end. Then one day Erik said he would get ready if they could have gum, so I stopped doing it altogether!
ReplyDeleteI do give countdown warnings and often when I say two minutes, I actually mean 10 because they need lots of warning. Then I give the one minute warning after five minutes. When it's really time to go and they start whining, I always tell them I actually gave them 8 extra minutes!
I hate being late so when we're on a schedule, I mean it and they know it. I'm stern about getting ready and being where we need to be on time. I will let them have more time than I initially said when we're not on a schedule, though.
Oh, and like KJ said, threats work too. LOL.
This is one of my favorite triplet blogs, but I pretty much subscribe to the same theory. I'll drag your screamin' ass back in the wagon and wrestle you into the straps if necessary. :)
ReplyDeletehttp://fourtimesthefun.blogspot.com/2012/05/its-my-party-and-ill-leave-when-i-want.html
That blog post is fantastic! What a great story. I think that will probably be my theory too :)
DeleteWe've found with our toddler that making a bit of a deal out of saying "good bye" to the activity/location and saying "see you again soon" makes the whole leaving thing much less of an issue. No matter what, we don't negotiate but it does help him to have some closure. Then we start talking about what we're going to do next to change the focus.
ReplyDeleteKelly
At this point, I pick them up and move them. I know that is ending soon though :)
ReplyDelete