Anyone struggling with lockdown chaos?

[BrutusMcDogface]

I know I should leave Facebook but it’s so useful at the moment I can’t. I might block some people though

Is it just us who are finding lockdown with 4 kids BLOODY HARD?! Home schooling has been impossible and there’s lots of fighting. Don’t get me started on the mess!!

Any hints or tips to help us through, please?! 😱

How old are the children?

I have three and they are too young for school... however my 4yo is so ready for school it’s unbelievable.... imagine keeping a collie indoors and not allowing it to chase sheep?

THAT.

Haha, Paul! We’re in w similar boat! 😆

They are 10, 8, 6 and 2.

I have 13, 9, 6 & 3 and the fighting, bickering between all of them, in all combinations of kids, is killing me! DH is wfh full time, and I’m wfh 3 days a week in a financial call centre 😂 it’s absolute chaos.

I need to honestly ask guys... how much shouting are you doing? I’m turning into a shouty mum and I feel so bad as when I’m trying to be all understanding and gentle with my 4yo or 2yo the other comes steaming in like a hurricane and I’m just like “GIVE ME A MINUTE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD”.

Also the 4yo has started saying “fucks sake” under her breath when peeved which makes me feel awesome

I’m so glad it’s not just me!! All this “perfect happy little family bubble” shite was really getting me down!

Yes, there’s shouting. From all of us. I’m hoping it’ll get easier as we do have some- moments of peace......

What I’m finding really hard is everyone endlessly telling me “at least they have each other to play with” because OBVIOUSLY it’s always easier with more and if it’s not “well perhaps you should have thought of that”. shuffles off

Yes the 3 year old here also has “fuck sake” in perfect context. 🙈 I shout more than I’d like, the kids are really loud, even when they’re not shouting. I also shout at them a lot “ i bloody love you but can you just shut up a minute til I deal with........ “

Then in the calmer moments I try to balance it all out with hugs and kind words and reading books and playing uno.

The wee moments they all have with each other - the teen playing barbies with the toddler, the boys chasing Pokémon in the garden. I just try to enjoy them before chaos reigns again 😂

I’m enjoying being able to have a rant here tbh!

I’m ripping my hair out . It’s so hard being at home all day . My toddler has just poured fairy liquid all over my stair carpet . He’s hard work without nursery routine and constantly fighting with my 5 year old . Bed times are non existent as nap time is later.
My 11 year old and 14 year old want to game it all day .
Husband is driving me nuts . He’s off work and he hates it . We’ve done the garden , washed the cars , jet washed the drive .
They also won’t stop eating .

We have the opposite here @allihearischasemarshallskye (LOL at your username)

• our 2 year old is now officially non napping unless I take him out in the buggy in the afternoon (with the rest of them before i LOSE MY SHIT) and then he will sleep the deepest between 4 and 5 yay
• the children’s eating has gone haywire, they won’t or don’t eat, pick, whine then the hanger is REAL
• my husband is in between contracts and I’m the working parent and I’m constantly thinking “right, I’m not on a call or have a sharp deadline, better go downstairs and lend a hand” whilst failing to appreciate I’m giving myself ZERO mental gap therefore between work and children and tidying/chores

The barrage of absolute tosspots I have on my social media posting about “re-evaluating their previously held beliefs” and “appreciating the simple” PLUS posting all of the artwork/nursery decor they’ve done... makes me want to scream.

Ironically I thank for my children in all of their absolutely crackers glory. The two oldest have nearly led me to wet myself laughing this past two days and the baby is just a perpetual fat dollop of giggles.

I love them when they sit and stare blankly at Joe Wicks as I’m jumping up and down and yelling “COME ON” and I love them when they would rather ignore any treasure hunts and dens I’ve made so they can go and sing George Ezra songs to next door’s cat that sits on the wall at 4 every day.

I feel better for posting this even though I am very very very very very VERY close to screaming my fucking head off any day now.

F

I’m so glad I started this thread! Thank you all! And 🍷 🥤 🍸

Oh I'm so with you! Sanity for me comes in the form of getting up v v early and sitting with a cup of tea on the back doorstep and thinking of day survival tactics, long bath before bed and getting them all out for a long walk each morning. My 9 month old has decided to nap only on the boob, and is getting more and more cranky because just occasionally I need to pay attention to her siblings/do laundry/cook. I've started a no breakfast lunch or tea until house is put away rule, limiting screens to 1 hour before tea which only starts once house is tidy. They are also eating us out of house and home! If I hear "muuuuum, mum, mum,mum ,mum, mummy!" once more I might need to come out of isolation. I genuinely dont know how I'll face homeschooling next week. Solidarity. Can we keep this going? Nobody else gets it.

Same! I'm sure I speak a foreign language cos my tribe just dont fucking listen!! Sick to friggin death of saying stop shouting stop fighting stop eating clean your rubbish away have a wash! I'm on a continuous loop but my kids must hear the Japanese version cos they take no God damn notice! My alcohol consumption has quadrupled since lockdown it's the only thing keeping me and them alive!
Can I ask have your dc lost volume control? it seems mine have forgotten what a whisper or "indoor voice " is, always so damn loud.

Can I ask have your dc lost volume control? it seems mine have forgotten what a whisper or "indoor voice " is, always so damn loud

Yep, its only just turned 7 and my 4yo has burst my eardrums already with her 3-act “Trolls Show”

Another large family mom here. This morning was pure chaos. I have two 3 year old twins and a baby daughter as well. Very little schoolwork was done this morning however last night I had printed out a set of math and English worksheets to do for both kids. No lessons were done either..
So I officially have taken refuge in my room and told my other half to take over. The bedroom door is shut as I need peace for a while, I am tired. Breakfast was hard enough. All they had was milk and half a toast with ham. He is painting some pine cones with them instead, later we will go on a walk somewhere not sure where. Today is a hard day that is for sure.

Hard day here too, you're not alone! My lovely husband has just told me to go to bed and he'll start the next loaf of bread and put the overnight wash on. I think his conference calls were somewhat disturbed by me shouting today... Totally justified though. Completely unable to listen/follow instructions/do anything without squabbling. Kid 2 was 'helping' me cook and covered me from head to foot in beetroot. Baby refused morning nap, grouchy all morning and I didn't feel massively sympathetic. After lunch I fed her to sleep and then very quickly nipped out to do a spot of gardening to lift my mood. It worked until kids 1 and 2 had a huge fight and kid 3 fell off her bike. Then tea took 3 times as long to cook as it should because we're cooking on a camp stove (long story, new house looked nice, turns out its crap) and bedtime got way too late and our evening vanished. Hope everyone else did better than me.

Carnage here. Exacerbated by our eldest having ADHD. It is relentless. The only thing he can find to do to ease his boredom is wind the others up. Tea prep is the time I really feel like losing my shit.

My dear, dear friend has two beautifully behaved children and is super organised and doing wonderfully productive things. She has even given their home school a sweet name. Our home school would be called the hell hole!

I have four too its not too bad because we're not homeschooling at the moment (Easter holidays in Scotland) but the constant noise and the eating and the mess! Trying to get them to bed is a Pita washed, teeth brushed, read to, tucked in with hot teddies and then bedlam I've taken to hiding downstairs with wine and occasionally bellowing go to bed. Can no longer hear them but 10pm on a weeknight ffs

Tips be outside as much as you can. Somehow it all feels easier in the fresh air without all the noise bouncing back at you. Also say yes if you can, sometimes I get stuck in a rut of no you can't just do what you are told etc try and remind myself to turn it around yes we can if we can get x done first. Bribery if we can get this done we can all have icecream in the garden.

I have four the same age (well 1 year old not 2) and am a single mum! I have been letting the kids have so much screen time just to get through and have been trying not to put too much pressure on myself re class work. Somedays well get loads done and others less so! The kids have been up and down anyway as it is emotionally so I'm trying not to put so much pressure on being perfect and muddling through!

Can I join? I have 4 and it’s chaos. We are both working from home full time, and so homeschooling is at a bare minimum. I’m losing the plot with all this ‘it’s such a precious time with the kids’ chat on social media!

The food. The mess. It’s doing my head in...

I have found my people!!
My four do play lovely together but DH and I are trying to work full time and so schooling isn't really happening...

They dont stop eating do they! Shopping budget has trebled. Sick of being in that Tesco queue! I try to buy more to make it last longer doesn't work out like that.
I will be the 1st one there when they announce school is safe to open again. Trying to work, teach and run a household with 5 people stuck in the same 4 walls is not an ideal scenario long term

How's everyone holding up? Still trying my best, failing on all fronts and gradually losing the plot. Homeschooling 3 round the same table is probably incredible brain gym type stuff, obtuse angle, next, structuring a story, next, phonics all in 30 seconds. I need some headspace and I won't get it.