How hard is it to….?

[ItsABeautifulDay25]

Day 5 of the Summer Holidays for us…

How hard is it to put some zoo animals into a shoebox?? Especially if you won’t get an ice lolly until it’s done??

I walked away….

What battles are you currently fighting?

Is this your DH? 🤣

😂😂

DS7

I spent the weekend sorting all the toys out on the premise that they’d now be kept tidy. I’m done, I’m not giving in.

Extremely hard — unless the zoo animals are plastic. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a very angry rhino and a very flat shoebox.

That might explain the trouble he’s having! 😂😂

He just came to see me in the kitchen complaining it was too difficult. I gave him a teaspoon and a tub, and asked him to put the spoon in the tub. He fell for it 😂 demonstrating he had all the necessary skills to put the animals away.

I think after an hour and a half we might be getting somewhere…😂

You’re stronger than me! I’m working whilst encouraging the kids (9 and 6) to get out all their toys and make a great old mess purely because at least they’re playing and not whining.

it’s actually really lovely hearing them play and spending bits of time with them between meetings. They will be doing 3 weeks of club where they’re entertained but I wanted some time for them to chill at home and entertain themselves.

Yes, I believe it is easier to get 4 elephants into a Mini.

I bought a piece of cake to share earlier, and cut it into four pieces. Nice treat we normally wouldn’t have.

Toddler had huge meltdown on releasing it was being shared, refused to eat any of it. Total hysteria.

Also working, and I need to draw a line somewhere. He’s been up since 6 playing, he’s had a friend over since 10, they’ve played out in the garden, they’ve had fun and left a trail of toys throughout. A bit of tidying up won’t hurt him.

Sorry I perhaps didn’t mean my message as it came across. Was probably more defensive expecting people to come on and tell me how much I was taking the piss and shouldn’t be working whilst looking after children.

I need to take inspiration from you and get the kids to do some tidying to get my kitchen back before dinner as currently I need to step around this.

but I can def sympathise… it’s really not that hard to put an animal in a box but at the same time it’s often absolutely impossibly and no bribe ever makes it easier!!

Oh god, I feel your pain! I made a really nice burger the other day, to the exact instructions of SpongeBob SquarePants. But I cut it in half! 😱 and obviously we are too old for that now and could he have mine instead. Given the amount of prodding and poking of his burger, I said no, and cut mine in half too. My sacrifice was appreciated and a disaster averted!

Oops didn’t wait for the pic to load properly

Really quite clever of you, OP. Mine is sitting watching TV, eating Maoam. I'm tired and the place is a mess!

Still term time here so my battle is convincing Yr10 revising Blake is more useful than watching The Muppets Christmas Carol.

Apology accepted, also sorry for having taken it the wrong way. I work for myself, so it’s entirely up to me, but certainly no judgement on that from me. I think at this age they are quite capable of amusing themselves with minor supervision. Mine will be at home throughout, with various activities, trips, play dates etc. so I just feel I need to set the expectations now. Good luck with yours! X

And the lid won’t close on the giraffe

Day 27 of the summer holidays here.

6yo is back from camp. He wants to draw a picture. He wants me to tell him what he should draw but is furious with all my suggestions...

I know that feeling! My DP was away for the weekend. We lived on ready meals and cookies, whilst I tidied and worked. DS was allowed to play on his tablet. This is effectively day 1 of a tidy living room (not the rest of the house) so will power is strong! Good luck - do whatever you need to get through 😉

😂😂 what did you suggest??

Ah @KarmenPQZ I love that. It’s exactly the sort of thing my son used to do over thirty years ago. It’s a veritable work of art! The repurposed rail tracks forming the car park and the the colour coordination of the parked cars very pleasing. Sorry @ItsABeautifulDay25 Good luck! No good advice regarding tidying. My house was a tip for years. It soon ends though and I miss those toy strewn days although I am probably looking back through rose tinted specs😂.

I suggested that he draws a picture of what he did at camp today.

Then I suggested that he draws a picture of him with his friend that he went to camp with.

Then I suggested he draws a flag in our local colours as there was a big match yesterday.

All terrible ideas apparently!

Day one here. How hard is it to empty your school bag, find homes for anything you need to keep and throw out anything that you don't?

Very hard, apparently. This is 12 year old DS, not a reception aged child.

I try not to do it too much because we don’t really have a garden so I feel it borders on child abuse keeping them cooped up all day. But as you say entertaining yourself in the house is an important skill.

Oh god this 😱 in its various guises. My eldest is always ‘in bored mummy suggest something’ and I parrot ‘I can suggest 20 things off the top of my head and you’ll say no to each therefore I’m not even going to suggest 1’ and I end up repeating that at least 20 times 😬
i find I have to start something and keep it going until they just naturally join in and take it over. The pic above weirdly started with a tea party for sylvanian families… can you tell?!?