A happy wife, nay a happy child is a happy life! As parents, we may plan a holiday or a weekend for that matter, but if he is not on board, the house of card comes tumbling down.
Here are some tried and tested tips that have proved to be successful when dealing with my boy at home, especially for extended periods of time.
Tip 1. Bid farewell to your OCD! For him to have a great time, I realized, cleanliness will occasionally take a back seat. It’s unreasonable to expect a grown-up, let alone a toddler to bake and keep your kitchen tidy at the same time. Once I had the epiphany, I stopped being a hyper tensed mom and started re-living my childhood with him. Having said that, ‘cleaning-up’ is something we do together after.
Tip 2. Everything can be a game! That brings me to tip number 2, everything including cleaning-up can be a game. A little encouragement and little competition can go a long way when he doesn’t want to do something. You may find what works best with your kid, I know I just have to say, “Let’s see who finishes up first” and things take off at accelerated rate.
Tip 3. Involve everyone great and small: We moved about 3 times within a span of 6 months, from a home to hotel, then corporate housing, then another home. It would have been rather challenging if I hadn’t involved him. All I had to do was give him a large industrial garbage bag to pack his toys and a suitcase for clothes. He also packed for his newborn sister. It was an absolute win-win.
Tip 4. Having some structure helps. Preparing a timetable with my son has been exciting. He came up with activities like science time, cooking time etc. that he’d like to do while I suggested few other activities with plenty of play time. Now, I don’t spend time and energy either coaxing him or scrambling for ideas.
Tip 5. Be flexible and compromise! Although a timetable is a life saver, I wouldn’t dream of micro-managing or taking his sense of control away. It only ends up being a power struggle. I learnt pretty soon (I say pretty soon but it took 5 years), that I must choose my battles wisely. If he wants to skip Math and do some coloring instead, it’s really alright in the grand scheme of things.
Tip 7. Keep a task log – His school maintains a reading log over the holidays and he loves the idea of being the reader of most books. So, I keep several logs like reading, Math, cleaning etc. and most times it’s rewarding to just enter those tasks as 'completed'.
Tip 8. Treasure box – Friday is also treasure box day! Occasionally, we need extra incentive to eat healthy meals or ‘have listening ears’. So, he gets to choose from a treasure box (with items from dollar store like spider, slime) only when he has been good throughout the week.