Skip to main content

The Relaxing Happier-Preston Days of Summer

One week down and I am amazed at how different Preston is. When he gets all worked up doing homework and starts to cry and moan about how stressed he is I have a difficult time swallowing it. No one likes homework but it isn't that stressful - especially not in third grade. Not to mention the fact that this kid has a major tendency for dramatic over interpretetation (he woke up with a slightly stuffy nose yesterday and through weeping and wailing he cried out, "I'm dying! I'm not going to live! I can't breathe! I'll never breathe again!" Although my favorite is when he fell at school and had to get stitches and called my Mom and told her he was going to lose his leg and have to have it replaced with it a robot leg. Oh, and the time he slipped on wet cement at a friend's pool and said first that he was going to die, then that he was paralyzed - but still wanted to swim. He got in the water and put his face down and floated like he was dead for a good 30 seconds. Yes, VERY dramatic).

However, in talking with his psychologist who validates his stress completely and for me in seeing how much lighter this kid is without schoolwork or homework, I'm starting to think that homework really might be a super stressor for him. And the fact that his brain doesn't grasp onto most concepts the ways others would - the invisible disability. I would say the stress that comes from daily interactions with kids and having to sit through a day of teacher-lecturing and work - I can see why he comes home at the end of his rope. And then I get at the end of mine trying to get him to do his work. I'll have to put some thought into how to ease that baby; I'll worry about that tomorrow. Or in a month. Needless to say, Preston has been almost a normal nine-year-old this last week. Compliant, pleasant, communicative, even polite. It amazes me! And this year it is exciting to say that he is like this with no meds! WOW. It's an eye-opener to see how much this kid flourishes when stressful demands are low. This is good information to take into the next IEP meeting.

I've stuck to my own advice and written out his daily schedule that includes chores and mind time and love and logic them simply with 'you are welcome to play with friends as soon as your chores are done.' I also put on his chart that in the morning he has to 1. Make his bed 2. Get dressed 3. Brush his teeth, which I simply refer to now as the '1,2, 3's.' It is sticking with him and he is following through. Friend-time has also been a great motivator which makes me seem less mean and I don't have to be on his case incessantly to get him to act. He did get frustrated the other day but worked through it with surprising speed; one minute he was saying he wasn't in the mood to mop and angry that he couldn't be with friends and literally one minute later he decided he was ready to mop. Here's to schedules, love and logic, 1-2-3 Magic and some free time!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ah The Joys Of Summer!

Life is nuts isn't it? And we all know that it never really calms down - the challenges simply change. School's out. Yay!! (No - that's not me talking, that's my kids). My two youngest are fighting like the world might end tomorrow and they need to let each other know how annoying and despicable the other one thinks they are. The toddler manhandles Preston's Lego car and Preston throws it in anger yelling that the toddler ruined it - and not just the Lego car - his LIFE! "This is the worst day of my life!" Sigh. I suggest a simple and relaxing game of Candy Land. They show up to the game table with their best of poker faces and they are not going to let anyone or anything steal away their chance at sweet victory. Accusations of cheating and board-manipulation fly, all the while the toddler simply moves his piece from one spot to the next which is simply just too much to take for the real players. The game is over and nobody is ever playing again. My mi
6 comments
Read more

Gratitude and Re-Committing

I didn't get the 'memo' but it looks like people are doing a 22 days of gratitude type of deal in lieu of the Thanksgiving holiday. Despite it being a little cliche, there's never a really good reason to not jump on board a gratitude wagon. Aside from that, I was also inspired by the lesson in one of my church meetings yesterday, that was simply on kindness, to re-commit to a few very important goals. 1. I am grateful for all four of mine, his, and our children. Parenting and step-parenting has proven to be one of the greatest ongoing challenges of my life. Not one of my kids is like the other. They all have unique stuggles, quirks and personalities that make me want to sometimes either squeeze them like crazy with happiness or frustration. ;) They are constantly reminding me (unverbally) of what my priorities should be and they are constantly teaching me patience. If I can keep calm and carry on (thanks Mr. Churchill), I think I might actually be okay at this parenti
4 comments
Read more

I Can Only Change ME

I CAN ONLY CHANGE ME Welcome my friend! I have taken some time-off (well, a lot of time off) but the break - and long awaited return - is over! And I figured there was no better way to jump back in to this than to re-state what the whole purpose of this blog is. (Are blogs on the out now? Do I need a .com address to be 'legit?' Well, whatever, this is where I'm startin'!) The crazy part is, over the years, this ONE key concept - I CAN ONLY CHANGE ME - is what I keep coming back to and what my ultimate fallback is. I may be a slow learner folks, but I'll probably never get it. Yes - that is not a typo - I probably will  never master this, but I sure can work at it every day! As I say that, I realize I need to offer my kids and my husband way more grace and forgiveness than I do because I am myself am a repeat offender in all things bad and luckily all things good as well. This right here is the foundation to this whole blog: You can't change anyone but your
Post a Comment
Read more