My First SA Rant

[AuntTami]

First year taking school age kids, and my last. I have 2. One is 6 and one is 7. And today I had 2 little ones as well so we went to the local splash pad to play for a while.

Never again.

How do you deal with the ungrateful and unappreciativeness of them?! I know they don't understand or know how much work it takes to load 4 kids, 2 that are in diapers, into the car to go play in the water for an hour, but I do.

the attitude I got today is enough to make me not want to do anything fun with them anymore and it isn't even July! It's going to be a long summer if we can't play in the water because the SA kids have attitudes!

They were upset that I didn't buy them all ice cream and let them ride the train(at $5 a person for one trip around the track. No)

They didn't care that we were there to play in the water, they were mad over what I WOULDNT let them do.

We no sooner get back home and they're asking "now what are we going to do?" well, first we're gonna get changed out of our wet clothes. Then, who knows!

I have a headache.

[Mom o Col]

I totally understand how you are feeling. One thing I might try with my school agers is to explain beforehand exactly what we will be doing if/when we go on an outing and that we will be doing only that. And I might have an activity set up beforehand for when we return...even if it's a movie and quiet time for a few minutes to regroup. Summer and big kids seem to bring a whole new level of chaos to our jobs.

[AuntTami]

I totally understand how you are feeling. One thing I might try with my school agers is to explain beforehand exactly what we will be doing if/when we go on an outing and that we will be doing only that. And I might have an activity set up beforehand for when we return...even if it's a movie and quiet time for a few minutes to regroup. Summer and big kids seem to bring a whole new level of chaos to our jobs.

They've been told all week that we were going today and I explained before we got there that there would be no riding of the train. I didn't know they had ice cream too(shame on me ) and after I said no to the train for the 3rd time it turned into "well then buy us ice cream" nope!

My DH was home and actually had a movie set up for them when we got back, but they were asking before we even got back into the house! If they could have held their horses for 2 minutes, they would have known what was going to be next.

Chaos is right!

[Thriftylady]

I agree with letting them know before hand as much as you can about "we sill do this" and "we won't do that". But you can't always know everything. But have a talk with them about "If you ask for anything you will for sure not get it". We had this rule with our own kids and our foster kids. One of DH's foster mom did it and it worked for her and then for us. When they would go into town, they sometimes stopped and got an ice cream cone at Dairy Queen. But if even one person asked, it ruined it for every one. Trust me it works. And then one day you can have ice cream in the freezer and when you come back and they didn't ask for anything you can say "you all were so good about not asking for anything, you do get a treat today". But don't do that every time, they are not entitled it is a treat.

[Baby Beluga]

I'm sorry you had a rough day, those always stink

I can graciously say that thanks to everyone sharing their SA experiences on here I made the decision to never accept an SAer. Ever. ::

[Josiegirl]

Ahhh schoolage kids. A whole different breed.
Kids are so egocentric, it's all about mememememememe. For some reason I have never wrapped my brain around that. You'd think I'd know and accept it by now. And it's always bothered me. One of those things I have a hard time letting go of.
I remember 1 of my dcks, he's 7 and it happened during.... winter break maybe? His mother had been very sick, for about a week or so. He was being extremely difficult at pick-up, refusing to do anything, giving her such a hard time, refusing to get ready. And here was dcm, looking like she was just about going to pass out, trying to get both her strong-willed kids out the door. She finally took her 4 yo dd to the car and I had a talk with dcb. I tried to tell him how sick she was, why wasn't he being more helpful, blahblahblah is what it all sounded like to him. I was thinking to myself....why you ungrateful selfish lil brat. I pointed out to him how lucky he and his sister were, all the stuff their parents do for them. And he still acted like a total brat.
No help from me I'm afraid but just wanted to share a story as to their depth of memememeishness.

[Mandy]

Oh my . That is awful that you had that happen. I hate to say it, but it sounds like they are entitled. They have to understand that you can still have fun without spending money on extras. I am not a daycare provider but I can tell you that the oldest ones need a lesson in gratitude. Have them write you a nice letter about all of the things you have provided for them, and then have them read it to you . Do warn them that only nice letters are allowed.

It is also a different era. When I was their age, you bet I was appreciative of all the fun things I got to do. To this day (I am in my 20s ) , I still thank my family for the fun we share together . Parents need to teach their kids this value of gratitude too.

I do hope things get better. You are trying your best