Hello all, just wanted to post an update. I had some GD questions and doubts a couple weeks ago, and stated that most of the time when I have problems with my 5 and 7 year old, it's when I want them to do something, like clean up their toys, art stuff, put away their clothes etc. Someone posted a link to this site: http://sandradodd.com/chores about 'unchoring' (like unschooling). Wow. Problem solved, lol. I stopped asking/telling my kids to keep up the house to my standards and suddenly the nagging/scolding/shouting in our house is over. Of course, I'm doing more of the cleaning myself, which is fine. I have been making statements like "these crayons need to be put away" when I start working on something, and about a third of the time, someone will join in to help. I've also been trying to change my attitude about doing things for the family too....trying to have a more service-oriented heart. I'm finding that after about a week, I've lost the resentment I used to feel about doing things for the family (like cooking special meals, extra cleaning chores etc). After all, I *wanted* this family and I'm really glad I have it!
The kids are still bickering and fighting alot, so that's the next thing I need to read up on and try some new things. Both kids try to make a competition out of everything....and I've tried to point out that when everything is a contest, there always has to be a loser, and no one wants to lose. Also, my son, who is 7, is *constantly* correcting his younger sister on every SINGLE point. She can't say anything without him jumping in with "No Rose! It's not....., it's this." He picks on the smallest details any chance he thinks he might have of being right and her wrong, for instance, yelling at her for calling a bull a cow.
So far, my biggest challenge with GD is that it seems to take so many words! I'm a pretty talkative person, but I'm finding myself having to explain the "why" of alot of things and at nine months preg with allergy-incuced sniffles, I'm awfully short of breath, lol. And it didn't help that MDC was down during our first week of trying out GD. :LOL Anyhow, thanks for sticking with me if you got this far!
The kids are still bickering and fighting alot, so that's the next thing I need to read up on and try some new things. Both kids try to make a competition out of everything....and I've tried to point out that when everything is a contest, there always has to be a loser, and no one wants to lose. Also, my son, who is 7, is *constantly* correcting his younger sister on every SINGLE point. She can't say anything without him jumping in with "No Rose! It's not....., it's this." He picks on the smallest details any chance he thinks he might have of being right and her wrong, for instance, yelling at her for calling a bull a cow.
So far, my biggest challenge with GD is that it seems to take so many words! I'm a pretty talkative person, but I'm finding myself having to explain the "why" of alot of things and at nine months preg with allergy-incuced sniffles, I'm awfully short of breath, lol. And it didn't help that MDC was down during our first week of trying out GD. :LOL Anyhow, thanks for sticking with me if you got this far!
