Ugh -- I put my sweet girl on the bus this morning and felt her pain as she trudged out of the warm, cozy house and out into the cold January morning. She did not want to get out of bed this morning, after a week of sleeping in (not always late, but she enjoyed not having Mom or Dad rustle her out of bed in the morning!), and then that struggle was followed by the memory of Daddy telling her she couldn't bring her new "Webkinz" dog to school! She likes to bring some stuffed animal or doll with her on the bus each day, an last night she was gearing up to bring one of her favorite Christmas gifts from Santa - a Webkinz bulldog (for those of you not yet familiar with the Webkinz phenomenom -- they are simple stuffed animals that come with a tag that has a "secret code" and your child can register their pet online and then play with them in a virtual world. She played with this dog online all weekend and it's quite cute, quite harmless.). But, her dad made the point last night that these things are SO popular with the kids right now, that he would hate for her to take it to school and something happen to it. He compared it to her Game Boy, another toy that will never take the bus ride to school...
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Back to School Blues
I was torn this morning, completely relating to the fact that it is bad enough to have to go back to the "grind" after being off for such a long vacation (I, in fact, am home again today because our youngest has been very sick), and then when you are a child you are excited about showing off your new Christmas gifts to your friends. Especially if you got something that you just know your friends are going to think is "cool!" But, I could also see my husband's point of view, and I certainly was not going to give in without discussing it in private with him first -- never a good idea to let the kids "divide and conquer" you! ;)
Anyway, we compromised on a cute new, mini Doodle Bear (stuffed bear that you can write on with a special pen and then throw in the wash and start drawing all over again -- honestly, I don't know where they come up with these things, and it is truly bizarre to me that someone would think of this particular concept...), and the crisis was averted!
Motivating my girl about doing something that I would not even want to do -- get out of bed on a cold morning, leave the coziness and comfort of my house to go out to school (or work, for grown-ups!), take the long bus ride to school (or commute to work) -- it's a hard sell! But, that's one of my jobs as a parent, so I try to be encouraging, I always try to point out the good parts of the day -- seeing her friends, seeing her teacher (who she likes), maybe it's pizza day, or maybe she has art today. I also remind her of fun things coming up, like her birthday is less than 3 weeks away, or the fun things we have planned for the weekend. Or for today, reminding her that it's only a 3 day week and that Friday, Daddy will be off of work and she will be a "car rider" -- her favorite thing -- no bus!! This is also where my lunchbox notes come in handy -- they are a nice pick-me-up for my girl during the day, and another chance for me to remind her of things to look forward to when I am not there with her at school.
It's hard to always be upbeat and encouraging, but that's one of our roles as a parent -- to be your child's cheerleader. And wouldn't it be great if we could all have our own personal motivator to move us along on the path to having a good day?
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5 comments:
Poor Will was going to have to face the same hard cold reality tomorrow (fairport had an extra day) but now he is sick with the flu so maybe he doesn't have to face his real life until Friday! It's tough to go back to anything after a nice long vacation like that!
Emma got a Webkinz too (not from us!) but we haven't looked at it online or anything yet. I wasn't sure if it was suitable for a 3 YO or not.
Poor Will -- I hope he feels better soon! I brought my baby to the dr today and turns out she does not just have a cold, but also an ear infection! She's been sick and not at all her self the past two days, but she had not been tugging on her ears at all, so I hadn't guessed that that was one of the problems!
Webkinz are really cute, although I will warn you that once you sign into the account, you can play for a year for free, apparently, and then I guess you can pay to continue. I think you should wait until she's older (to use it on the computer) because it's pretty involved and at least now my girl can read and manuever around on her own without constant hands-on help to play. You can shop for the pet, set up it's room, feed it, have it go to classes, go to work, you name it -- it's very involved! You can check it out next time your over!
I'm totally impressed with myself I not only knew what a Webkinz was but I gave it to my niece as a Christmas gift.
So sorry to about all the sickness going around. My LO hasn't been herself either, clingy and whiney. I know part of it is teething but I hope she's not coming down with the cold that her Mommy has...sigh
Sending you some some healthy vibes.
Yeah-You know me. I'll make the webkinz go to work before it gets to go to school;-)
I though it might be beyond her at this point.
Poor baby! Hope she's better soon. I would always know when Emma had an ear infection because she would scream all night long. Other than that she never played with her ears! As soon as she got the meds though she would be like 100% better.
Another cute gift I have found out about is the "Shining Star" -- again, a cute stuffed animal, but there is a tag that has (again) a special code on it, and you go online and enter the code and you get to register a star in your child's name or whatever name they choose! And it's about what the Webkinz cost - $15 or under. I've only seen them at Toys 'R Us and KB Toys though.
Thanks for all the good wishes, she was a lot closer to her normal, sweet personality last night, so that's good! Although she got hyper at some point of the wee hours... I'll do a post about it. Maybe she'll be like Emma and the sign will not be tugging her ears, but just having a terrible night like we had a couple of nights ago!
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