Looking for some Task Solutions.
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jmar
- Posts: 528
- Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2010 3:43 pm
- Injury Description, Date, extent, surgical intervention etc: brachial plexus stretch during thoracic outlet syndrome surgery on may 18, 2010.
Re: Looking for some Task Solutions.
great news!!! i think you are doing the right thing.
Re: Looking for some Task Solutions.
I'm glad you have come to a decision that you are happy with. I am a stay-at-home mom and am proud of it. It was important to both me and my husband that one of us be home with the kids and that "one" was me!!
Juliana was clingy, but only in new places or with people she didn't know. At home she was carefree! I guess some of that comes from her position in the family--number 4. Her siblings didn't care that she had a "funky arm" and just played with her and around her. We did therapy together; they spent their young years thinking that ALL kids had therapists come over in the afternoons!!
We had sleep issues too. I worked hard to separate her, but there were things I had to give in to. Naps were unconditional, but were sometimes on the floor in the den or on the couch. She refused to go to sleep before her siblings and I gave in on that. We went through periods of mom lying on the floor of her room or snuggling with her, but then I would ease out of them. She has slept in her own room from the beginning. However, while i was nursing, she didn't always make it back to the crib.... !
She is now a confident 11 year old. She will go away for 4 weeks this summer to tennis camp. She knows no one and for the first time doesn't have her siblings with her (she and they used to go away for 7 weeks, but they were all in the same camp). She is nervous, but excited.
I think Kate is right to let things go as they go. If she needs you, she needs you. However, you can set boundaries about nap time--"mommy needs her nap too". I think routine is the most important part of a kids life. So start a fun routine that transitions into nap time. A favorite book, stuffed animal, music being played. Enforce that, gently but firmly and she will be fine. For Juliana, she didn't want to "miss" anything, so I'd put a kiddie sleeping bag on the carpet in the den and bring down her pillow and her blankies. She slept like a rock, but in the middle of the floor. As long as she was sleeping, I was okay!!
Remember that we remake the rules when our kids are young. The experience so much that "regular" kids don't. They are tired, in pain...frustrated. I was very much the martinet with my first three kids (3 in 2 years) and I learned to relax some of the rules for Juliana. She is still the same kind of kids that my others are: good students, thoughtful, kind, rule followers, funny, caring.
good luck,
claudia
Juliana was clingy, but only in new places or with people she didn't know. At home she was carefree! I guess some of that comes from her position in the family--number 4. Her siblings didn't care that she had a "funky arm" and just played with her and around her. We did therapy together; they spent their young years thinking that ALL kids had therapists come over in the afternoons!!
We had sleep issues too. I worked hard to separate her, but there were things I had to give in to. Naps were unconditional, but were sometimes on the floor in the den or on the couch. She refused to go to sleep before her siblings and I gave in on that. We went through periods of mom lying on the floor of her room or snuggling with her, but then I would ease out of them. She has slept in her own room from the beginning. However, while i was nursing, she didn't always make it back to the crib.... !
She is now a confident 11 year old. She will go away for 4 weeks this summer to tennis camp. She knows no one and for the first time doesn't have her siblings with her (she and they used to go away for 7 weeks, but they were all in the same camp). She is nervous, but excited.
I think Kate is right to let things go as they go. If she needs you, she needs you. However, you can set boundaries about nap time--"mommy needs her nap too". I think routine is the most important part of a kids life. So start a fun routine that transitions into nap time. A favorite book, stuffed animal, music being played. Enforce that, gently but firmly and she will be fine. For Juliana, she didn't want to "miss" anything, so I'd put a kiddie sleeping bag on the carpet in the den and bring down her pillow and her blankies. She slept like a rock, but in the middle of the floor. As long as she was sleeping, I was okay!!
Remember that we remake the rules when our kids are young. The experience so much that "regular" kids don't. They are tired, in pain...frustrated. I was very much the martinet with my first three kids (3 in 2 years) and I learned to relax some of the rules for Juliana. She is still the same kind of kids that my others are: good students, thoughtful, kind, rule followers, funny, caring.
good luck,
claudia