I woke as usual at some stupid time around six, walked the dog, fed him and the cats etc and finally settled down with a cuppa and my computer - big mistake and a habit I really need to get out of!
I looked out into the garden and decided something had to be done so set about tidying it up, moving the rabbit cages to their winter places (near the house for those torrential rainy days when a quick dash out to feed and water and collection for an indoor hugging session is all you want to do). I have to admit it was a job well done and looks so much better now. The turf Jack and I laid 2 weekends ago has taken nicely and is very green and lush making it a pleasant outlook from the lounge/playroom windows. I'm so proud of Jack, he worked really hard to get that done and I'm sure he could have still done it if he was at school, but really question whether he would have wanted to give up his Saturday afternoon to help his Mum lay turf in the garden.
The boys both helped me walk the garden rubbish down to the tip - one of those times when a car would have been great but hey we don't have one so no sense in wishing... Luckily it's not a long walk, lol!
Jack spent much of his afternoon reading Eragon. He's read it all once but we saw the boxed set of hard-backed books in the Works for only £9.99 and I thought I'd treat him. He does love to read, must take after his mum! ;)
Max has been playing on x box games. I so wish he'd get fed up of them like so many of my HE acquaintances children seem to do, but no he's as stuck into them now as he was when we first started to HE so no change there then.
I went inside and started weeding out all the broken and damaged toys. One of the hardest things about childminding is that the mindees seem to have no, or very little, respect for the toys, books and other equipment. My requests of "Please don;t swing on that gate, you'll hurt yourself/break it" or " please pick up the toys you've just thrown on the floor" are often met with a firm "NO" or "I don't want to". I must have thrown away hundreds of pounds of damaged or broken toys etc already this year and it's really beginning to get to me, especially as my own children have never behaved in this way. :'(
I've now read all 5 books in the Twilight series and am quite sad to have finished. Edward, Jacob, Bella and co. became a part of my life for a month or so and whilst I do not think the books are particularly well written, I did enjoy reading them on the whole. Not sure what to read now as nothing seems quite 'right'. I'm sure something will turn up that will captivate my imagination though. :)
I'm kinda wishing we had a bigger house right now, this place is getting awfully small with all the childminding stuff in it as well as our own. Actually childminding stuff is beginning to take over! I really do not want to move though as we have so many great friends locally, the area is fabulous for kids to grow up in, the people are so very friendly and kind, and we have built good lives for ourselves. Of course my business is here too and whilst I could pick that up and move it anywhere it would mean starting again to some extent. Not something I really want to do. I'm sure the answer is out there somewhere and in time it will present itself just as this house did when we needed it most. Maybe I just need to keep decluttering...
4 comments:
I know what you mean; re: childminding. I've deliberately moved some books and toys out of the way because my little mindee is not very respectful of books, or was chewing on things, I didn't want chewing on.
However I am very, very strict and she knows she will not be allowed any books if she does not put back the one she's reading. I also have the rule that all the toys are tidied up at lunchtime and put back on the shelves. It really is necessary too, my house is tiny, and the floor soon gets covered.
And if she doesn't help, then she sits on the beanbag with nothing until she's ready to. I do make it into a game though, we put music on and dance around picking up toys and putting them back in the baskets etc on the shelves.
Hard though isn't it... my biggest annoyance is my son's bedroom. When he was still sharing with me it wasn't a big deal; but he's now in his own room and the mindee sometimes gets out of bed and just trashes the room. It really pisses me off to be honest. But there isn't anywhere else for her to nap.. mind if she tries to climb on the radiator onto the sill again I'll buy a travel cot and she'll sleep in that in future. I refuse to move his bedroom around again just for the hour or so she naps in there.. it's HIS room, and it's not fair to have it set up awkwardly just for her.
LOL sorry, went a bit ranty there.
No apologies necessary! Rant as much as you like. ;)
My minded toddlers have trashed stuff in my bedroom one more than one occasion so I know exactly where you are coming from!
It’s a tough one when you work from home even more so with child minding as the role entails gathering and the storing of so much ‘stuff’ (!) I minded many years ago, long before Ofsted became involved, as a single parent at the time the income was an absolute necessity although the frustrations were high for myself and perhaps also for my young daughter. I found a lose routine helped and a sturdy loft ladder; rotating the toys helped immensely as well as using the loft as storage – I did this every Friday at the end of the week. The house felt less crowded with boxed toys and the minded kids were always excited to see what new toys were going to be used at the start of their week with me.
As for the disrespect ‘thing’ that you are experiencing – yup, that was certainly a bug bear for me too, not so much with the younger kids, the older ones for me were harder to guide and motivate towards more positive behaviours. I don’t think there is a straight forward answer – although I resolved to stay firm and insisted toys and other resources were respected and put away after use – if not the consequence of not having the said item out for a while seemed to help them remember to play with things as intended.
Although I’m perhaps sounding a little negative about my four years of minding, looking back I’m pleased I used the situation to my advantage as it allowed me to remain at home and care for my daughter in her formative years, I also enjoyed the relationships we developed with the minded children and their parents, to this day; I keep in touch with all but one family. Amazing really as I stopped childminding 13 years ago....
Hope you find away round things that works for you all :)
I think we have too many toys for the little ones!! They have far more than my own children and perhaps if they had less they'd care for them a bit more. More de-cluttering on the way methinks, lol!
WRT the lack of respect, I think it's probably because everybody comes from such different backgrounds, different rules, and different values. I shall take the advice given here though and work towards them picking up toys etc on a more regular basis and see how that goes.
Thank you ladies x
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