Wanted the ground to swallow me up.

[MorocconOil]

Just returned from school run and feel fed up. My 2 DS behaved really badly. They kept tormenting eachother, fighting then falling over.My dd aged 2 had a tantrum which went off and on from 7am til we left the house so my patience was wearing thin. The younger ds bit the older on route to school, and all I could do was say'right no pancakes tonight' which I had already said about 50 times. The older ds then started calling me stupid. Another parent offerred to walk them to school I was looking so harrassed. Anyway we all got there somehow and managed to say good-bye on good-ish terms, but I wish I had dealt with it better.

Sorry to hear you had a bad morning. Im sure most parents with school age children have experienced similar situations.

My dc always seem to kick off just before we leave for school and I have dropped them off with them refusing to hug me. At least you were able to leave them on 'good-ish ' terms.

Aww hate that feeling! Tantrums (not mine) always leave me feeling like a wet rag too! But you know we can't deal with things properly all of the time. We are human, and sometimes days parenting just goes wrong. (I always say, it's good for the kids not to have a perfect mum! They will expect far too much from their own wives/partners, if we make too good a job of it!!)

I'd thank that other mum when you see her later - she's obviously had bad days too, and knows what they feel like! Now, you need to have a cuppa and a chocolate biscuit, and remind yourself that you will have to do it all again tomorrow. And by then you will be prepared, with a simpler-to-carry-out sanction than no pancakes - or you could start new star charts tonight and have found five things to reward them for before bedtime.

Good thing with kids is, you usually get another go at doing it differently, another day!

Are you going to stick to the no pancakes?

Oh, and perfectly normal... we have had morning where I appear on here in tears fter school run from hell!

Thanks fro all your words of comfort and support everybody. Am just heading out to shops for a bit of retail therapy- well new shoes for dd! I don't know about pancakes. I quite like them myself and maybe dss could redeem themselves by behaving well on the way home. What do you think?

Ah yes - earn back pancakes

Up to you on the pancakes. You are in charge. If you want to let them earn them back, you can. If you want to make a point about their behaviour this morning, you can.

Good luck

Back from shops now and feeling much better. Psyching myself up for school pick-up and wondering what kind of moods my dss are going to be in. I think I will tell them they can have pancakes about 6.30pm when they have shown us lovely behaviour all evening. Or maybe I should just be firm and consistent and stick to no pancakes under any circumstances!!!!!!It's making my head hurt.

Mimizan, I would stick to the no pancakes under any circumstances personally ? That was the treat you gave and you have to carry it out. Otherwise you are sending them the message that good behaviour is not something normal and expected at all times but something that has to be done to get you out of trouble and get your rewards back. Up to you of course ? as someone already said, you are in charge?..

Threat?.

Ok ok, there'll be no pancakes tossed in our house tonight!!

You are quite right ValnBen. I need to follow through the sanction I issued this morning. After all their behaviour was unacceptable this and they need to know. Thanks for reminding me

(I'll sneak myself and DH a pancake or 2 when they've gone to bed).