Whats the time, how long until???

[mymatemax]

Are we late, whats the time, whats the time, whats the time, how long till we go, when are we coming home, how long is an hour, is it 5 minutes yet, you said we are going in an hour why are you saying 15 mins now, are we going to be late, is is tlunch time, what time is lunch, how long till lunch... etc etc etc...whats the time....... over & over & over again ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I want to scream... I know its cos he's lost his routine of the school day, i know he is trying to make sense of it.... but its still driving me to drink.

You're more than half-way through the week.

Here's some

Thanks Threebee, I certainly need a bottle or six :)

(There was a Hartlepool Beer & Wine van parked outside, earlier - was tempted to kidnap it :o )

Can he tell the time, or does he need you to tell him it?

Sand timers? We have a set of timers in different colours. Less need for talk/uncertainty therefore great for reducing anxiety. Plus easy to use.

In the meantime there's we are over halfway now x

Thanks, we have timers, we have tried to teach him to tell the time, to understand time, used digital watches. alarms etc. Trouble is he has no concept of a minute in relation to an hour IYKWIM, they are just words.
He sort of grasps that an hour is as long as his lunch break at school but if i tell him we are going out in an hour he expect the hour to be constant & so when I say we have 15 mins before we need to go he just shouts back "but you said an hour".
We ahve tried 4 x 15 min timers lined up & turn them over one after another but he just wants to turn the original one back over & then the plan has gone.
For a child that has no concept of time he is bloody obsessed with it. More wine! :)

Before DS1 grasped telling the time (oooh, when he was 2.5, that would have been, so my memory may be slightly rusty!!!) he would stand at the gate, asking over and over when tea would be ready. I took to writing down the time when tea would be ready as it would appear on a digital clock and every time he came back to pester, I'd tell him tea will be ready when the clock says this. That worked pretty well with him because he had something to compare.

It would also get around your DS's obsession with timers and difficulty with grasping relative time and the passage of time.

thanks Ouryve, ive tried writting it down he just says "whens that"
He is almost 11 I dont know if him grasping the concept of time will create a bigger monster or not, his only obsession is FOOD, so you can imagine his relentless questioning at meal times :)

Have you thought of a Now-Next board or a visual timetable, Mrs mymate?

We 'cope' by : visual time table including meals for the day.

Also step by step timetables for sequencing (dressing, toileting, morning routine, bedtime etc all help)

Comparrisons of time with familiar things (I.e. Same time as one episode of fav tv show)

Now / next used a lot. Mummy will do this washing up, then we will get ready. Using kitchen timer, now we play, when it buzzes then we do the next thing.

no real idea of time in terms of hours / mins / seconds... Working hard on teaching days of week / months. Very hard for them to grasp. only advantage to this lack of time is bedtime - 7 o'clock is a movable feast in our house!!

So hard for children that have no concept of time, as the rhythm of life is so hard for them to grasp when concept of time is so shakey.

so hard when out of routine. The endless questions are so wearing! have to keep on reminding myself that as hard as it is for me, it is harder for them, as they are so anxious / unsettled hence the endless questions. Roll on Monday!

we do use visuals & now next etc ( so safe from mouldy carrotts Mareey)

We maybe dont use them as consistently as we did as his language is very good now & also during his normal routine, school, home, dinner etc he is able to place himself in time IYKWIM.

I think i sometimes unserestimate how much a lack of routine upsets him, this morning his routine was Get up, bath/physio, dress, breakfast, TV, car/outing etc.

But he was constantly worrying about when he needed to do the next thing, so when i put the TV on he knew he could watch 2 episodes of top gear, 5 mins in to the first one he was asking, is it nearly finished ( even tho hes seen it a thousand bloody times), is it time for the next one, how long have i been watching it etc etc etc.

Not sure if I prefer the questions to the constant pacing that we used to have before he discovered the joy of questioning.
Oh well, lets hope its a phase!

Thanks for all the suggestions