I Had To Do It

So cool that Simon's reading Fantastic Mr. Fox...it's one of our faves, and the movie! Well, I put it in my top 5 all time favorites. It truly fills me up. Bulpus bulpus!

I am thinking spaghetti and meatballs tonight because last night I served lamb chops and quinoa casserole...the fam was not cheering to say the least.

Have a great day, Ali. Thanks for the sweet story...I loved reading it. :)

i wish there were a "like" button for blogs ;) it's lovely to be able to see what a typical day is in anyone else's life, especially a parent. thank you for sharing with us Ali, as always you motivate and inspire me!

Yay for you for limiting TV and video time. I have 2 teenage boys and that's one of the best things we have done. Not easy but so necessary!

love this post! thank you for sharing. i saw your "photo life instagram" you posted. love it too. i'm new to this i-mac world and would love a tutorial on how to print out a photo strip for my project life album. i've played around with the program and can't figure this out. on another note, i'm starting on week 11 of my p.l. and i love the process so much. just like you, i'm totally amazed that i've kept up with this project consistently. every day, i'm looking for something that i can incorporate into my album. thank you for all you do. you are such an inspiration to so many people.

Totally sounds like a day in the life at my house with my 2 kids- a 2 year old daughter and almost 6 year old son (who is an AVID Scoob fan!!). It is always nice when the day ends on a happy note, especially when my son holds my face in his hands and tell me that he loves me! My daughter loves my son's old toys, too!
Love your photo case, btw! What a wonderful idea!

Oh boy we are going through the same thing with our 10 year old son.

Because his interests are so intense and he is very rigid, cutting back the computer time has been very hard. We brought in a ABA therapist to help us with this, reinforcers, not being so rigid,picky eating, etc. I pray this will help him. If it was up to him he would be on the computer and Wii all.day.long. I know this because after a meltdown MOM had with 4 other kids it turned into that. I felt so bad.

He just sits on the couch lost, not sure what to do with himself since the computer and researching an viewing movies is his interest. That's when I grab the other kids and engage them all. It's starting to work!

Thank you for posting this. I needed to see that our household is not the only one who goes through these days :)

ugghhh...can definitely relate to the kid(s) not wanting to quit doing something. When my youngest was little everything was a battle - especially bath time. She'd be in the tub for an hour if I'd let her, whether the water was cold or not. I finally got a kitchen timer and sat down and explained to her that we have limited time and that 20 minutes was her allotted time for bathing. When the timer went off, it wasn't Mom yelling at her to get out, it was the timer letting her know it was over. It took the battle away from "me vs. her" to the timer being the bad guy. Maybe you could try something like this to limit the Wii gaming time?

Thanks for sharing your Monday story. We have very similar Wii issues and experiences in our house. Thanks for the Scooby Link, my son will love that. I too am shockingly under-informed on important Scooby, Star Wars, Pokemon and Mario Brothers details.

Love the idea of the print shelf...need to dig mine out to help with my 11 yr olds legos! We have many issues with executive functioning and need storage ideas that are right in front of him for what's important to him. So know those fits/moments....persistence pays off! We can now identify behaviors and reminders of what will happen if we don't follow the household rules or limits, and what the consequences are for fits around them (particularly video games and tv time). Amazing what it took us 6-7 years to accomplish but it is so worth the tears and grey hairs to get there! Thanks for sharing.

Reading about the meltdown makes me appreciate that I'm in an empty nest now and those type games weren't available when my kids were young. We lived in the country and they made games out of sticks or playing ball outdoors, taking hikes, etc. Hmmm, might make for a great blog post......you jogged my memory Ali!
I love your use of the printer's drawer for the legos. I had one of those filled with tiny animal figures that my kids would pick me up for birthdays and Christmas. I decided it was time to pass it on down the line to my oldest son.
LOVED everything about your post!

I am so glad you decided not to paint the printer's tray/type case. It looks wonderful against the green of Simon's wall. That is a fantastic shade of green by the way. I bought a printer's tray earlier this year after seeing your photo display idea and while I haven't done anything with it yet I am definitely not considering giving it to my son and his Lego men (in fact, I made sure my son didn't see your previous post when you first came across the idea, I didn't want him getting any ideas!!). But now I think I might have to buy another printer's tray for that very purpose. Initially I thought I don't want to paint this great piece of history, but seeing how Simon's printer's tray works so well with the Lego men even in it's original state, I think my son might just be in luck!! Thank you for the inspiration, again...

Thank you for sharing your Monday story. I love the everyday stories you share.

Must be the day for meltdowns. I had to pick up my son from school today because he had a meltdown and was unable to transition back from the cool down room to class. I am glad that my son is not the one with meltdowns.

Our girls are in their 20's now, and mostly off on their own, but this post reminds me of when they were smaller... We didn't get a tv until our oldest was 5 & youngest 1, but finally bought one mostly to edit video we'd been shooting and for watching movies. It's always lived upstairs, in our bedroom, out of sight, out of mind, so it was an "event" to watch anything. The zombie/glazed eye thing happens so easily with screen time - whether tv or computer, and so hard to prevent without having some kind of limits... I remember how "bored" they'd become when screens were turned off, but after a period of "withdrawal" they'd start using their brains again, and figure how to entertain themselves once more. It's an ongoing struggle all parents get to deal with! Now, my youngest has a tv her grandparents gave her but it's not hooked to cable & the antennae doesn't seem to help, so it's used for just movies too. Our oldest uses her computer for tv & recently bought a Wii - but as a new full time college student, it doesn't seem to be a distraction since she's pulling in "A's" in most of her classes. Staying strong with screen time as kids I believe has made our girls aware of needing limits themselves. So keep up the good work everyone! It'll pay off!!

way to persist! we have talks from time to time with our 16.5 yr old about needing time away from stimulus (online video games), so don't think it will get easier with time. i love how you persevered, even though there was pushback, and were rewarded with some beautiful moments to capture as the day progressed.

[...] farm.  Now mind you this was in the late 70′s and early 80′s.  As I was reading  Ali Edward’s Blog this morning, she was telling about Simon’s meltdown over a Wii game (and of course other [...]

You might be interested in checking out a syndrome that is just beginning to be researched about users of video games called "game transfer phenomena". There was an article in the New York Times by Jesse Singal that talks about the research done which is being published in the "International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning" by Mark Griffiths, Angelica Ortiz de Gortari and Karin Aronsson. The research says that gaming could trigger "intrusive thoughts, sensations, impulses, reflexes, optical illusions and dissociations." Just saying there might be some down sides to too much video action!
Aloha, Kate

When my boys were young, they were allowed 30 minutes of gaming and 30 minutes of television per school day and on Saturday one hour each but none on Sunday. We would set a timer and if there was complaining when the timer went off, no playing tomorrow. It wasn't long before there was no complaining. As they got older they lobbied for one hour of whichever so that they could watch an hour long television program if they wanted to, but more often than not they gave up tv for gaming! Now they are grown and pretty well rounded, although there are times when they have marathon gaming or movie nights with friends. Bottom line - you know your children and what they can handle better than anyone. Hang in there - it's all worth it.

Hi Ali, I just have to ask where you got the poster of the mini figures, I can see just a bit of it off to one side of the top picture! I just re-did my sons room and have been looking for some cool pictures/posters to hang up and he would love that one!! I looked on the lego site and can't seem to find, so if you remember where you got it I would really appreciate the info! Thanks so much!!

thanks so much for sharing your day! it is easy for us blog readers to assume you have a perfect life without these moments. especially love how you all worked through it, still had dessert and ended the day on a sweet note :O) thanks for your honesty and reminder to find something to celebrate.