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Try as we might, there are always times in the day where things feel chaotic. Like, no one is listening, it's loud, and I'm losing my cool. In those moments, it's more important than ever to NOT add to the chaos by losing your patience. How do you calm yourself when things get really stressful? I know everyone has their own answer!
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Breathe. Long deep breaths. -
I have a train whistle that brings all chaos to a halt immediately.
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If it gets too chaotic and the kids are struggling to play, I try to structure the play with timers and number of kids that can be in a play center...I will also rotate the kids in and out of quiet play activities....Once the a child gets used to our routine things go fairly smooth, but if not, I only have to say "hey kids, does ms. xxxx need to help you all work out your differences"....that usually causes them to pull it together.
I also have a wooden chime I got from a Mary Jo Huff workshop and it works as well.
Calming myself down is much like teaching the kids to control their emotions....I have to remind myself to keep my hands to myself:
: and think about how I feel:: and do not allow my emotions to cause me to physically harm someone::
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Bubbles for the kids and chocolate for me. ::
Flashlights and cheesecake work, too.- Unless otherwise stated, all my posts are personal opinion and worth what you paid for them.
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I like to add a big ice cold bottle of coca cola with my chocolate.....then I need something salty preferably dill pickle chips....then something sweet again.....and on and on and on::
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Depending on the situation I start randomly singing wacky stuff, or I grab a small stack of kids books and head to the least chaotic spot in the room and start reading aloud very quietly.
Stash of chocolate chips kept on hand nearby to self medicate as needed.Comment
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I just noticed the "times in the day" part.
I don't typically have this very often. Usually during a transition period, like a new enrollment or family schedule change.
If it was every day I would probably look at the root causes and find a plan to work around that.
Maybe a larger serving of protein for the kids at lunch. Maybe more outdoor time. Maybe have them dance during transition times between activities. Maybe re-evaluate my set-up. Etc.
The more often it happened, the more I would suspect something is not working with my current setup or plan.- Unless otherwise stated, all my posts are personal opinion and worth what you paid for them.Comment
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I pick the rowdiest, loudest child and have them come work on an activity at the table. I then pick 3 of the other ones that are being rowdy to come work at the table. We discuss "calm down" a lot here. We can have fun, we can be silly, but we can't be crazy and loud because then no one can hear each other.Comment
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1. Prevention. Problem solving areas of the day that are stressful and changing what I can. Sometimes there are going to be harder parts of the day - for me the worst is coming inside to making lunch. Its a hell of a transition we: come in, take off shoes, put away water, wash hands, sit at table activity while waiting for others, clean up, go upstairs, sit on blankets, get boxes of activities on each blanket and then I make lunch. I have trained them on the procedure enough it has gotten much smoother. Today was pretty seamless - It was high energy but not stressful happyface I just take breathes and acknowledge that I sweat alot for a few minutes there
2. I also try and stay on top of my mood. Am I tired, hungry, grumpy for whatever reason? Do I need to drink some water? If I forget to take care of myself along with these 10 littles I start snapping at them
3. When I find myself getting annoyed I sing to myself "I am kind, I am gentle, I am full of joy" its a little mediation that helps me choose to be happy or at least not crazy grumpy
The kids pick up on it which is cute too.
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This is the reason why parents say I look like a gym teacher. Whistle, running shoes. ::
This is what I do, too. Transitions are the worst, or when they are just getting crazy during free play. Towards the last week with one child (I termed) I just had her sit at the table during every transition because she could NOT handle it and would get wild and it was driving me crazy. Screaming at the top of her lungs, laying on people, throwing shoes, squirting her water bottle on the floor.
She would sit at the table with a table top activity while everyone else danced or quickly followed directions.Comment
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My DH said it's simply in my nature to be calm during chaos.
The noise, the mess, the screaming, the unplanned disruptions, transition times and the craziness of trying to juggle everything while maintaining a schedule...... doesn't really bother me much. I just roll with it.
I can recall only 2 times that I've literally almost lost it and neither time had anything to do with a daycare child.
Both times it was a parent.
one deceitful parent and one helicopter parent.
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I handle the kids ok. I work with 6 weeks - pre-k age and there's really not much they can do that gets me stressed out. I do not watch school age children because they are just not my age group.
I grew up in a big family and have 4 kids of my own that are still young. If things start getting too noisy we switch gears and I pull the group in for a quieter activity.
Parents set me off too. Fortunately right now I have good families and parents. When I get a difficult parents I get to the point of having tension headaches so they get three chances to get on board or they're done. My kids deserve a mom who isn't mentally exhausted by the end of the daycare day.Comment
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I'll also turn the lights off and whisper... My group is young enough they quiet down to listen to me and then whisper back.Comment
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