After-school meltdowns, sand, and stinky feet
Wow! It's been a lonnng while since the last blog post. We started school this year (what?! I have a Kindergartener??) and promptly got swept up in the tornado of new schedules, pickups, dropoffs, school events, and busy-ness. I thought we were busy BEFORE this.
Meanwhile, our 3-yr-old has been torturing us with nighttime wakeups and verrry early mornings. We'd been having problems with his sleep off and on for months, but the time change really screwed the kids up. And this is supposed to be the "easy" time change! It's been two full weeks since we set our clocks back, and we're just now getting on the right track of waking up closer to 6am. Many days it's closer to 5:30, but that's a huge improvement over 4:30!
In light of all that, I'm not sure whether this post belongs on this particular blog or if it should be moved over to my private blog about my kiddos, but since this is my life now, this is what you get.
Ada is doing great in school, but the key words are *in school*. When she gets home, she's (uh... how do I put this lightly?) a monster. A friend of mine sent me an article that put a name to this phenomenon: it's called "after-school restraint collapse". I'll call it ASRC for short. The school day is SO long for them (Ada's Kindergarten is full-day), and there are so many rules and expectations for them to learn. They've been holding back all day, so it's understandable that they let loose at home where they're comfortable and safe. That doesn't make it any less frustrating for the parent on the receiving end of it, though!
I've tried handling ASRC various ways--playing on the playground after school (great idea, but too hectic to pull the kids away + get stuck in the middle school traffic), offering to color with my daughter (her favorite thing, but she never wanted to do this, for whatever reason).
Three months in, I've settled on TV shows and lots of snacks. There's often still a meltdown when it's time to turn off the TV or when I cut off snacks. I don't love the TV solution, but it does give us all a chance to decompress. And I'll often use that time to get chores done.
Navigating the new schedule has been challenging for me, as it doesn't allow for an easy, smooth "quiet time" for my Ryan (and really, ME). We've figured out some carpool options that do help a TON. But he inevitably is most prone to nap on the days *I* have to do pickup and thus we have to skip it.
Anyhow...I must say that we're getting into more of a groove now.
But now, I want to talk about sand. Ada's playground has sand, so almost every day she comes home with so. much. sand. in her shoes! HOW does a person walk around with mounds of sand in their shoes and not notice or stop to empty them?? I'm baffled by this. Check this out:
Maybe a better question is: how does a mom take 3+ months to figure out that we have to stop and empty shoes EVERY DAY before we enter the house? (Ryan's preschool also has a sandy playground...) I'm becoming really good friends with the dust pan.
Oh and speaking of shoes, we've entered the stinky shoe phase. Those extra playground rounds add up to extra grossness. But, while I might not have an answer to ASRC, I *do* have a solution for smelly feet and shoes! It's an antibacterial powder called On Your Toes, available on Amazon:
It REALLY works. You do have to reapply every few weeks or months, but this is seriously the only thing that gets the job done. I've found that most other foot odor solutions are super short-lived or just add some other funky smell on top. FYI, I don't bother putting On Your Toes on anyone's feet--just in the shoes. And that does the trick!
On that lovely note, I'm off to relax before we scramble to make school lunches for the week, as tomorrow is Monday...
Meanwhile, our 3-yr-old has been torturing us with nighttime wakeups and verrry early mornings. We'd been having problems with his sleep off and on for months, but the time change really screwed the kids up. And this is supposed to be the "easy" time change! It's been two full weeks since we set our clocks back, and we're just now getting on the right track of waking up closer to 6am. Many days it's closer to 5:30, but that's a huge improvement over 4:30!
In light of all that, I'm not sure whether this post belongs on this particular blog or if it should be moved over to my private blog about my kiddos, but since this is my life now, this is what you get.
Ada is doing great in school, but the key words are *in school*. When she gets home, she's (uh... how do I put this lightly?) a monster. A friend of mine sent me an article that put a name to this phenomenon: it's called "after-school restraint collapse". I'll call it ASRC for short. The school day is SO long for them (Ada's Kindergarten is full-day), and there are so many rules and expectations for them to learn. They've been holding back all day, so it's understandable that they let loose at home where they're comfortable and safe. That doesn't make it any less frustrating for the parent on the receiving end of it, though!
I've tried handling ASRC various ways--playing on the playground after school (great idea, but too hectic to pull the kids away + get stuck in the middle school traffic), offering to color with my daughter (her favorite thing, but she never wanted to do this, for whatever reason).
Three months in, I've settled on TV shows and lots of snacks. There's often still a meltdown when it's time to turn off the TV or when I cut off snacks. I don't love the TV solution, but it does give us all a chance to decompress. And I'll often use that time to get chores done.
Navigating the new schedule has been challenging for me, as it doesn't allow for an easy, smooth "quiet time" for my Ryan (and really, ME). We've figured out some carpool options that do help a TON. But he inevitably is most prone to nap on the days *I* have to do pickup and thus we have to skip it.
Anyhow...I must say that we're getting into more of a groove now.
But now, I want to talk about sand. Ada's playground has sand, so almost every day she comes home with so. much. sand. in her shoes! HOW does a person walk around with mounds of sand in their shoes and not notice or stop to empty them?? I'm baffled by this. Check this out:
Maybe a better question is: how does a mom take 3+ months to figure out that we have to stop and empty shoes EVERY DAY before we enter the house? (Ryan's preschool also has a sandy playground...) I'm becoming really good friends with the dust pan.
Oh and speaking of shoes, we've entered the stinky shoe phase. Those extra playground rounds add up to extra grossness. But, while I might not have an answer to ASRC, I *do* have a solution for smelly feet and shoes! It's an antibacterial powder called On Your Toes, available on Amazon:
It REALLY works. You do have to reapply every few weeks or months, but this is seriously the only thing that gets the job done. I've found that most other foot odor solutions are super short-lived or just add some other funky smell on top. FYI, I don't bother putting On Your Toes on anyone's feet--just in the shoes. And that does the trick!
On that lovely note, I'm off to relax before we scramble to make school lunches for the week, as tomorrow is Monday...
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