Help With Afternoon Schedule

[Play Care]

In October I started three new kids. Two brothers(1 and 4) with dc experience and one girl (2) with no dc experience. I already had two brothers (2 and 3) since they were infants. I also have two school aged dc boys (also brothers 5 and 7) and then my own 2 school aged kids. (9 kids total) I feel great about our day, until after afternoon snack. The boys want to wrestle and play fight, the 2 yo's are whining and crying, the 3 yo boy alternates between rough play and crying. The only kids who seem to be having any appropriate fun are my own two kids and the one year old I've reminded, redirected and timed out. I offer specific activities for each age group. And they do those things - until I turn my back to deal with the whiny 2 yo's, then it's back to fighting, wrestling, etc. It's to the point where they are at the table with ONE choice (reading, writing, coloring) most of the PM. Obviously we get out as much as possible - but then it's more of the play fighting/wrestling even with reminders etc. From 3:15 until the kids get picked up is the witching hour here and I need some fresh ideas/help on how to take it back.

[cheerfuldom]

can you set up a reward system for the older boys to earn tv or video game time in the afternoon...if they have good behavior in the morning?

[providerandmomof4]

I have the same problem. Some days it's worse than others....I try to wait for afternoon outside time until later than I used to. Now we have activities after afternoon snack and then we go outside at about 4:15ish. My pickups are between 4:45 and 5:30.

I used to go outside right after snack and then we'd be ready to go in by 4:30 or so and the same thing was happening....so, I started going outside a little later and it seems to be working.

[Play Care]

I have the same problem. Some days it's worse than others....I try to wait for afternoon outside time until later than I used to. Now we have activities after afternoon snack and then we go outside at about 4:15ish. My pickups are between 4:45 and 5:30.

I used to go outside right after snack and then we'd be ready to go in by 4:30 or so and the same thing was happening....so, I started going outside a little later and it seems to be working.

I do that a lot in the warmer months! It does help. I think the majority of my frustration is that it's been too cold to be out for long. Today it was just above 0 with a negative wind chill. They actually did well today, but mostly because I was ON them the whole time.