Homeschool Chronicles Edition 8 - Just a Minute of Observation...

Lately I have been hearing screams coming from the kids’ room during playtime.

Aghhh, give that back. No stop it, it’s mine. I’m telling mom on you. You’re so mean.

It seemed all of my older children had an issue with my curious 2 year old. I know at times he intentionally tries to get under their skin and finds ways to irritate them. He has been locked out of the room (by his siblings) several times because of this.

It’s easy for me to get into a routine of responding in this way...

Guys lets get along. Please stop yelling at one another. Tell your siblings you’re sorry. He’s only two kids. Calm down in there. Lower your voices. Please share.

And the list goes on.

When the arguing and bickering gets so tiresome I intend to have pre-responses ready. I literally have learned to drown out some of the noise and continue as usual. If I hear a “real” cry (not the fake whiny ones seeking attention) that’s when I’ll move and go assess the situation.

Well this week I decided to do better with engaging. Although I hear mainly the same complaints and arguing daily I still need to be active and aware of what my children are going through. Their little minds and hearts are precious and vulnerable and these teaching times are so crucial at this stage.

You notice in the picture above the little dinosaur in the middle...that belongs to my 2 year old son. My 5 and 6 year old sons were playing with the two cars next to it. I walked in and noticed my 2 year old looking quite sad while walking his lonesome dinosaur around the car rug. He then quickly reached and grabbed for the yellow car that belonged to my 5 year old. Then of course you know what came next...

Aghhh stop, give that back! It’s my car!

Ah! 🤓 I now see the problem. The older boys are leaving my curious two out of the gang. He only wants to be apart of what they are doing. He looks up to them so much and always wants to be around them, doing as they do. My husband puts it as this:

He wants to be one of the boys, not just the baby brother.

Why wouldn’t he grab for the car? He doesn’t want to walk a little slow dinosaur around while they are rolling these awesome fast cars.

I then intervened and explained to my sons why this keeps happening. I gave them the answer they were searching for to why their little brother treats them that way and always takes their toys. I told them they would see a change in him if they would just take the time to include him more and allow him to hang with them and be one of the boys. 😊

Just a minute of observation can make a world of difference. Do you know what I’ve been hearing lately? I’ve been hearing laughters of joy and less bickering. As soon as my son received his little blue car happiness lit up his face. He looked at his brothers with appeasement and gratitude.

I know I will still hear the sounds of bickering coming from the room but all of my children learned a valuable lesson and that’s what matters. Playtime is a little more peaceful because there is now an understanding of everyone’s actions. My two year old targeted his siblings because he felt left out. This caused them to continue to leave and lock him out. It was a never ending vicious cycle.

So parents, sometimes we just have to take that extra minute to go and engage and assess the situation. If you have a repetitive situation on your hands it may just take a minute of your time to help solve the issue.

Well until the next episode...😅

All photos are my own and were taken with our Cannon EOS Rebel T6.

Thanks for Reading~

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