Thursday, May 26, 2011

Calm Down Place

Another crazy month. I just wish I can say "it's a good month" soon. I don't know what to say with the things that has been happening in our home. Maybe I should just recap with these series of events that happened within 2 months (or probably less):

My mother had a Cataract operation
K went for his Hydrocele operation
Y started to be very jealous of K and behaved very badly
My mother in law was hospitalized
My domestic helper quit on us
My mother in law had to go through a Stomach operation
My husband went for a business trip to Europe a week after my domestic helper quited
The boys fell sick for a week when my husband was away

It was a very difficult period with the boys high with their meltdowns relay marathon. It was very draining for me. There was no time to blog at all. And I missed blogging. It was impossible to do any learning activities with the boys with the loads of laundry waiting to be washed, the dishes in the sink, the toys all around the house. It didn't help when someone is crying 99% of the time. The tension and stress in the household is affecting the boys. It's a vicious cycle, they behaved worse and they drained us further.

Anyway, I decided today that I'm leaving the dishes, the laundry and the toys and to take some photos and share something I did with you, for those still visiting this blog. My self worth index is dropping near to zero and being able to blog and knowing that someone out there is listening to me, reading and commenting what I'm writing is preventing my self worth index dropping down to negative.

So, I'm sharing my Calm Down Place with you. With the frequent meltdowns, the boys are often brought into my room to calm down. I wanted to have a designated calm down place and have transformed one small space at the side of our bed to be the place where they calm down.

Our Calm Down Place

I photocopied pictures of some faces drawings from a book they like.

And I have a slider to show Their Feelings.
This worked for the first few times. They stopped crying when they came to this corner to find their own crying face. But after 2 days, it's no longer working. I can't keep up with my sons! They get bored too fast. Anyway, this will be the designated Calm Down Place for them whether they like it or not and they will get to slide it back to the happy boy picture after they calmed down.

Alright, hope you like this. Please share if you have a calm down place for your child. I rushed to get this place up in 15 mins, it doesn't look as pleasing as I would like it to be. Now, I've got to go back to the laundry, the dishes and the toys.

3 comments:

  1. i don't have something as elaborate as yours. it's just a corner in the room, stay there till they are calm, and can listen to me. Takes a few rounds, but we get there. Less is more, simplicity rules for me :)

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  2. Oh, bless your heart! I can see you are trying to keep everyone together! Your calm down place is worth a try for sure. Sometimes, I think a calm down place works best when there is something interesting to do while there like drawing or doing a puzzle or reading a book. So it is less about "discipline or time out" and really more about "calming down."

    I hope things start to settle down for you - perhaps you just need your own "calm down place" :)

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  3. Yes! I need a calm down place too.

    I second your thoughts Deborah. It should be a place to calm down and not for discipline. That's why I call it a calm down place and not a time out place. I tried having some books and more soft toys there but they ripped everything when they are throwing a tantrum. So, I have to keep the place as simple as possible until they can practice a little more self control. Hopefully soon.

    Kristen: I think so long it works, it doesn't have to be fancy. I just needed something for them to look at to shorten the calming down time before the other toddler needs the space. Lol...

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