You know that time of day when everyone goes crazy: that time of day in the evening when you are trying to make dinner and clean up and the kids are going bonkers…I call it the witching hour. Well, my witching hour usually consists of me trying frantically to cook while responding to the near-constant whining of one or the other of my little ones. This is the exact time every day that my two year old decides to become plastered to my leg and need held…constantly. My solution to this daily insanity was the sharing table, and it works for me.
I set up a child-sized table in the kitchen, right next to my workspace. This was done with much fanfare and introduced as “the sharing table.” The point of the sharing table is that anything placed on the sharing table MUST be shared, or else you have to leave. I have a hidden stash of play-dough, paints, Floam and other fabulous things that only come out to visit the sharing table while mommy makes dinner, and sharing is mandatory. The kids love it and it works, they actually share! They sit close to mommy so I can be involved and they don’t feel separated, but I can work while they busily play at the table.
My evenings now consist of markedly less crying, yelling and fighting, and more of the nice, constructive behavior that makes you feel like you’ve got skills…mad mommy skills. How do you survive the witching hour? Be sure to join our forum discussion!
Come visit me, Laura, at mommy menagerie, where I try to get my kids to yell less and play nicely. Sometimes it works, sometimes…well, you know.
Loading ...
Sheer genius!