A Fluke and How to Motivate?
Peter threw up again this morning. When I got up there was a smelly mess on his bed. When I asked him about it he said, "That was just a mistake. I'm not really sick." And he doesn't act sick in the slightest. He ate breakfast and is running around acting perfectly normal. At least I don't have to decide whether or not to keep him home from school.
Yesterday started out pretty good. I didn't get any phone calls from the school. I was able to walk to the school to pick up the kids, and so I got some much needed exercise. I worked some more on my quilt. Last night I took John to scouts. The difficult part was the long afternoon after the kids came home from school. I am frustrated because I don't know how to motivate my children to do the things they need to do. Everyone has an assigned room to straighten. Joshua had two homework assignments he needed to work on. John had homework as well as an assignment to clean out the cat's litter (which he had neglected to do the day before so it REALLY stunk.) All the boys had laundry to put away. It felt like I spent all afternoon nagging my kids: "Is your homework done yet?" "If I set the timer for five minutes, can you finish that before the timer rings?" "Have you finished putting your laundry away yet?" "You can be on the computer after your chores and homework are done." "How is the kitty litter looking?" "Sure you can watch a movie - as soon as everyone is done with their homework and chores!" "Remember you have scouts tonight so you won't have time to do that later!" The kids earn Mommy Bucks when they do their chores, which they can turn in for various prizes and priveleges, but that doesn't seem to be enough of an incentive anymore. By the time Steven got home from work yesterday I was exhausted.
Yesterday started out pretty good. I didn't get any phone calls from the school. I was able to walk to the school to pick up the kids, and so I got some much needed exercise. I worked some more on my quilt. Last night I took John to scouts. The difficult part was the long afternoon after the kids came home from school. I am frustrated because I don't know how to motivate my children to do the things they need to do. Everyone has an assigned room to straighten. Joshua had two homework assignments he needed to work on. John had homework as well as an assignment to clean out the cat's litter (which he had neglected to do the day before so it REALLY stunk.) All the boys had laundry to put away. It felt like I spent all afternoon nagging my kids: "Is your homework done yet?" "If I set the timer for five minutes, can you finish that before the timer rings?" "Have you finished putting your laundry away yet?" "You can be on the computer after your chores and homework are done." "How is the kitty litter looking?" "Sure you can watch a movie - as soon as everyone is done with their homework and chores!" "Remember you have scouts tonight so you won't have time to do that later!" The kids earn Mommy Bucks when they do their chores, which they can turn in for various prizes and priveleges, but that doesn't seem to be enough of an incentive anymore. By the time Steven got home from work yesterday I was exhausted.
I feel like I do that all day long some days, but then some days everyone remembers to be self motivated. I think just remind them and be consistent and most days work out. At least for us.
ReplyDeleteYuck, I hate feeling like a nag.
ReplyDelete