I recently have mastered the art of making Gwen's life a living nightmare. No matter what I do she is in a constant state of despair. Take today for example; I decided that Gwen needed something fun, just for her, so I signed her up for a little toddler gym class at the local gym. It was just one hour a week for eight weeks or so. Today was the first day. Screams were echoing on our street as I had to tackle her to get her dressed to go. "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO A CLASS!" scream-wail-scream. Finally I drag her, kicking and screaming to the toddler class. We get in there and she turns in to shy mode. Who knew that my daughter was painfully shy. She would stand in the back and hang her head and try to participate, but wasn't as rambunxious as the other kids. Her teacher even pulled me aside and told me that I may want to work on her "ball throwing" with her at home. Duly noted. Gwen is not a good ball thrower, but she can read. Okay. So anyway, I thought Gwen would be dying to go home from this torturous experience. No no, I had to drag her kicking and screaming out of the gym because she wanted to stay in her class. Nevermind that all of the other children went home. She wanted to stay. I am a horrible, horrible mother.
How can I win with this kind of mindset? Drag her in only to drag her out an hour later.
I remember last summer thinking of how weird it was that I would spend an hour getting everyone ready to go swimming only to drag Gwen, unwilling, to the pool.
So if you are looking for ways to torture your toddler; try being an involved parent, sign them up for classes, take them swimming or to the park, read to them. On the other hand if you want your kid to love you pop in a DVD of Dora, push the repeat button and get something you need to do done.
Harumph !
Can I just say that I really hope this is just a phase she is going through?? Where is my sweet little obedient compliant girl?? I miss her!
8 comments:
Are you serious? Is she reading? That's it. I'm getting that book.
What is this book that you are using? I am so curious. I don't know if it will make you feel better, but Maggie is just like this too. She hates to go (go, leave, change activities). She loves being there once we get there, but getting there and then leaving is awful. She is improving though. So here's hoping!
How did you teach Gwen to read. I must know.
Gwen has had a big interest in letters her whole life. We have the leapfrog Word Whammer up on the fridge and then she got the video "Letter Factory" from leapfrog. After watching the video twice she knew the sounds all the letters make. So we got this book called "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons". We are only on like lesson 7, but she can read simple two or three letter words. I recommend that book or there is another one called "The ordinary parents guide to teaching reading" or something like that, by Jessie Wise. That one doesn't include the writing, the 100 lessons one does, but we are skipping that part because the writing was really frustrating Gwen, she lacks the fine motor skills :). Anyway, so that is how we are doing it. It's not like she is reading novels now or anything, she just loves letters and loves to spell stuff out on the fridge, etc. Hope that helps---the 100 easy lessons book is the least expensive on walmart.com, if you go order it go through ebates first and you will get 3% cash back plus the five bucks for me referring you (kadagaba@yahoo.com)-- I am totally loving the ebates thing!
I have used "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" when teaching Reece to read. It is a great book! He was sounding out words by 4, and was reading really well when he got into Kindergarden. I highly recommend the book as well!
Remember when we were friends?? :) No, but really... Remember our days of glory? Sam was three turning 4. Remember how crazy he was driving me?? He was doing all of these things that you are referring to. And now Sarah is three and doing all of these things. I find great comfort in knowing that this is just a phase. The three's are terrible! At least in my family. But they shall pass. I PROMISE!!
sent the bob books yesterday. Hopefully it's not too late to use them. :) I wish Anna had 1/10 of Gwen's obedience; we are constantly fighting. And I'm pretty sure that we're not supposed to have OBEDIENCE as the sole topic of family home evening each week. Anyway.... I totally relate. hope it does not last forever....
You just described my life! Who cares about trying to be a good mom and having fun with your kids. It's a waist of effort. It's so frustrating so I'm glad I'm not alone. It must be a 3 year old thing.
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