How to get things done by the kids

"My baby... How was your day at school today dear?  What did you do in school? Did you finish your tiffin? Oh wonderful...Hmm why don't you remove the shoes. Good. Now please change your dress. Wash your hands PLEASE and your face. Go to the toilet... You can do that later. Please wear the dress . PLEASE...PLEASE ."

Can you relate to this. Well this the usual scenario in my house when my elder son comes back from his school ,I mean playgroup. And the above statements ranges from the sweetest decibel level to the highest one with different modulations and frequencies depending on the day. They lasts from say from 5min(the luckiest day...which happens very rarely) to more than half an hour.

I don't like to start disciplining my child the moment he comes home from school. Mummy had missed him. But I can't turn a blind eye also. This whole process of changing, cleaning, dressing in the most subtle manner never used to happen. I kind of struggled a lot to make this as smooth as possible. After about a year I have got the hang of it. Well I found the magic words to make things happen. So no more drama, no more tears and no more fights.

The magic words are " Come let us play in water". Yes as simple as that. Kids simply love playing in water. So why not get things done in their way. The moment I say the magical words, the shoes get removed, the clothes are changed (Amma please help ), the hands , the legs, well the entire body is cleaned (well bathed actually) and when play is over, a fresh pair of clothes are worn. Phew...what a relief.

Those who have small kids know how difficult it is to get things done by the kids in the most pleasing manner. Each day my children are teaching me how to handle them better. Motherhood is all about learning. With these few simple words I have learned the power of words.

For the past three months I am using this quite frequently and I am happy ,so are my kids (my youngest one makes it a point to join his Big brother). You do get fresh nice smelling kids after 10 minutes without too much of a struggle.

I feed them and brace myself up for the long day ahead. O sleep, forget it. Its another struggle. More on that some other day. And as my friend said : you will ask your toddlers to get some sleep and when they are teenagers you  yourself will ask them to stop sleeping and study. Really what an irony.

Tips when letting  kids play in water

• Decide how long you want to let them play and state that clearly and stick to it. Kids never want to come out of the water so you better decide for them
• Ask the kids not to pour water on their head , they might fall sick.
• Give them some things to play like containers of different size, funnel, cups, spoons, spray or may be a beach set.
• If kids start fighting, stop their play immediately. Do this every time and they will be better off while playing in water because of the consequences.
• Do not let kids play in water if they have a tendency to catch cold or fall sick easily.

Have a nice time....

P.S.
You never know when an Archimedes is born and cry out Eureka.