Yet ANOTHER School Age Thread

[melskids]

i know we've discussed this a thousand times already, and we're all looking foward to school resuming soon , but i just gota get this off my chest


THEY ARE DRIVING ME INSANE


whew...that feels better...

seriously though, i do have a question..... is it normal for them to bicker and fight about EVERYTHING all day? i mean, i understand some squabbles, but this is just nonstop all day. (i have 4 six year olds) i'm starting to second guess that maybe its me, that i'm not doing something right. cause unless i am right there to referee, they bicker all the time. i'm getting tired of being soooo involved. they are worse then the toddlers. i'm thinking about not allowing them to play together at all for awhile to see how they like that.

[nannyde]

No school agers

[melskids]

No school agers

i soooo hear that!

the only problem is, one comes with 2 other sibs, i dont want to lose the income.

one is a friends and cant really get out of it.

and one is mine....i cant get rid of him...

the 4th one is actually the "ring leader" and he may not be coming back next year if i get my way

[boysx5]

after my summer of one school age child I'm done I don't think it ever ends they just don't know how to play without fighting or getting their own way. I feel like I do everything for this one child and nothing is ever good enough so I"m done I do have her two year old sister but next year I'm willing to lose the income I'm too old for this. If I had anymore six year olds like this one I would shoot myself. Hang in there I keep saying only three more weeks of her

[TGT09]

Oh good grief! This sounds exactly like me! I feel the same way....they ARE worse than the toddlers. I have had to e-mail 2 different parents this week....I feel bad bringing them in but these SA's are going to be the death of me. The problem is, I'm going to have MORE SA's in the next weeks leading up to school.

I honestly am not sure if I'm going to offer SA daycare anymore after this summer. It has me seriously doubting myself and I don't like that. I think next summer there will be some drastic changes but in the meantime, it will only be toddlers and babies for me. I'm also praying we have a snow-free winter (yeah right) but one can hope, right? :-)

Good luck!

[DCMom]

One more summer...fall 2011 I have 6 kids leaving (3 sets of siblings) for good and I am not going to do school age care any longer. Cannot wait; this summer has been pretty brutal

[DCMomOf3]

I have been there too and I'm glad right now I only have my own SA kids. In my experience, they fight over what to do, rules for games, who is "it", etc. I have found a few temporary things I have found to work.

One is having them make a list of things they could do and then rolling die to decide which they have to do. Another is having them decide on stations, having them to the leg work to set them up and they would then take turns at each station (also, this makes them play independently for a while but still all achieving the same thing in the end).

Good luck, it's very true they require more work and patience than twice as many toddlers, at lest in my experience!

[Preschool/daycare teacher]

Ugh, I know how you feel! I always thought I was better with young schoolagers than toddlers, but after this past school year and this summer, I wonder how anyone does it who have schoolagers only! We only have 3 school agers now since the other two (siblings) were pulled out of daycare this summer. But it's constant bad attitude, fighting, arguing, demanding their own way, whining and pouting, screaming at the younger ones to leave them alone, calling them names, and then tatteling when the younger ones call them names... so sick of it! It drains a person's energy faster than the toddlers! We, also, are thinking about not accepting schoolagers anymore. This fall we won't have any schoolagers except the owner's kids, so hopefully we won't get anymore calls for school age care! Only one and a half more weeks to go for us!

[melskids]

well, i'm glad its not just me. i was starting to get a complex...

only 5 more weeks to go!!!

[My4SunshineGirlsNY]

Melskids...I was thinking the same thing, that it is me...I'm not doing something right, or not fun enough, or just don't have my day planned well enough for them, not enough planned to do. Most of my fights come from my older girls..my own 13 and 11 year old plus my 10 year old neice and 9 year old daycare girl (once in a while a 14 year old friend and 10 year old neighbor)...they are ALL girls and holy moly, some days LORD help me!! They nit pick over EVERYTHING.

I am so stressed most days wondering who's going to argue or talk snotty or that my 9 year old daycare girl will tell her mom how mean my girls were to her. Well once in a while they are but it's because she follows them like a puppy dog ALL day long, she's here 11 hours a day...they want their space and she doesn't give them any space...always in their face saying "do you want to play"....she's on the hyper side and it annoys them to pieces. I have to say, she drives me nuts most days too...yet she is a good girl...I just don't think she realizes just how much she hangs on the other kids and that it bothers them (although we did have a good discussion today).

Thankfully I had a great week this week...my 11 year old daughter has been with a friend most of this week and my 13 year old has been in and out at my neices house...and the 9 year old daycare girl was absent on Tuesday at a friends house...so less girls to argue with each other. It's been a rather peaceful week (yes, some arguing but nothing like last week!).

It makes a difference if I'm PMS'ing too...if my period is close, I just get short and snippy sometimes because all the arguing gets under my skin and I can't take it all day long. So glad we are not alone on this...my house feels like total disaster some days and wish I could throw in the towel (but I know I can't financially). It will be so much better when school starts!!

[melskids]

geesh.....My4sunshine, are we in the same house? LOL only mine is all boys, so they nit pick and beat the daylights out of each other

where in NY are you? just curious...i'm in NY too....outside of cooperstown

[Childminder]

I love children! Until they go to school::.

[My4SunshineGirlsNY]

geesh.....My4sunshine, are we in the same house? LOL only mine is all boys, so they nit pick and beat the daylights out of each other

where in NY are you? just curious...i'm in NY too....outside of cooperstown

LOL, if my girls got physical they would be in HUGE trouble...I know boys are a whole new ballgame, they can get rough. I'm from a small town 50 miles south from Rochester...hmm, never heard of cooperstown...what major city is that by?

[legomom922]

Thats why I only take kids until they are 3....after that its a whole nother ballgame!

My DH has 4 kids from his 1st marriage, if thats what you even want to call it, and they are brats! Aruing, bickering, fighting ALL THE TIME! Another reason why I wont do SA...

The only SA I would do is before /after school...I can get through an hr or 2...

I'm in Roch BTW

[melskids]

LOL, if my girls got physical they would be in HUGE trouble...I know boys are a whole new ballgame, they can get rough. I'm from a small town 50 miles south from Rochester...hmm, never heard of cooperstown...what major city is that by?

it is the major city in this area... (small town living) it is where the baseball hall of fame is....