Pre-Preschool

Zoey is a pretty complicated creatures as toddlers come. When she was an infant, she was quite content to sit quietly, half-heartedly play with a toy but to just sit and exist. She's decided she needs to make up for all that sitting around by being a maniac child bouncing off of every couch, screaming, and being otherwise not entertained by toys. I have yet to find some toy or activity something that captures her interest for more than 10 minutes. In the beginning it wasn't so bad, she would bounce from toy to toy, mope around the house bored, but lately she's started getting more vocal and even violent about her boredom. She will scream just to hear herself scream and beat on Ian until he won't stop crying, throwing toys, being willfully rebellious. It was really starting to grate on my nerves and I generally was just not feeling good about myself as a mom  for all the disciplining I'd have to do. Most of which was entirely ineffective anyway.

Then, it come to me very strongly that Zoey needs and craves structure, activities, things to engage her. Sounds like "duh!" right? I guess I thought that too but I knew it would mean a lot of extra work for me. I decided I was going to do it and if the extra work meant a happier kid, then it would be worth it. I sat down and wrote out a general schedule of our day to break it up into time-able segments that she could look forward to each day. I bought a timer and a book of ideas and activities to help me with the school time of the day. So far I've just done Google searches of "preschool curriculum" to find worksheets and activities while I wait for my supplies to get here. I also stocked up on tons of kid crafting supplies. It takes me about 30-40 minutes to plan the lesson and activities for the next day.

We're on day three of the regime and I can't believe the difference it is making. As she is learning the types of things we do each day during whatever time it is (It's Quiet Time now we do this, or it's school time now we do this) she is much more cooperative because she knows when she will get my attention, when she needs to entertain herself, when we will learn something, when we will eat, when we play outside etc. School time is definitely her favorite because there is something new to learn and new crafts or activities to do each day. She really craves that change, but also craves the schedule. I can't wait for it to stop being so hot outside so we can take more trips to the park or just play games outside in the afternoons. The mornings and all go very well, but by afternoon after Ian wakes from his nap and eats, the kids seem to need to go somewhere or be outside. That's usually where things have been breaking down and the fighting ensues and the calm activities, like reading and puzzles aren't interesting anymore. I've tried to do "exercise time" then where we sing wiggly songs or play Just Dance, but Zoey has almost no interest in doing those things, but Ian will get in on the action sometimes.

I've tried to be really positive about all this, the kids are happier, but I feel less accomplished because I don't have the time to do my own chores around the house. I guess as the kids are more able to entertain themselves during free play times, I'll be able to get in all the things I need to do as well without all the interruption. It's a good start, I hope I can keep it up