It's a madhouse here!

I'm feeling utterly exhausted and worried that I am letting the kids get out of control. I have 3 boys - twins are 2 1/2 , and the older is 4. During the week, the 4 y/o is in preschool and the twins stay home with a nanny. DH and I both work full-time so we really like to relax and take it easy on the weekends. Here's the problem - the kids seem to run the house on the weekends. They beg to watch TV nearly every few hours and I probably give in and let them watch at least 1-2 hours a day. The rest of the time they chase each other around the house (rather happily), jump on the furniture and just cause little boy mayhem. I'll try to get them to sit down and do some sort of activity, but usually the twins take the older sons stuff or vice versa and everyone melts down and starts yelling. I feel partly to blame that maybe I don't enforce enough discipline and structure on the weekends, but I also am just so bad at being creative with them.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

Go outside! As much as possible & let them run as much as they want. Go to the park or anywhere else you can think of to let them burn off some energy. Also, my kids love things like bubbles, sidewalk chalk, playing in the sprinkler, "watering" the plants, etc. As long as they are outside, they are creating a little less mayhem inside, plus it tires them out so that, afterward, maybe they will be willing to sit down & try an activity of some kind like puzzles, games, painting, coloring, etc.

 

Love Tina's ideas!! Also try some water paints, finger paints, play dough, things they can get down and dirty with. My son seem to only like activities in which caused a mess or he could use his hands. Yes, the cleanup is crazy, but that's all that worked with my boy.

 

I am going to echo Tina's idea. My girls love being outside so whenever possible, that is where we are. Inside the only way I can keep Mattie interested in something is if she is getting her hands messy. I guess I am too laid back. We often take the cushions off the couch and let them just around and play.

 

You mean they're not supposed to run around like maniacs?

I let my two go outside weather permitting for at least a half hour a day. It helps with the bouncing off of the walls issue that 2 1/2 year olds have.

 

Thanks. I feel a little more normal hearing that others run around like crazy too. It's hard to be outside long in Houston but we do take them out to the pool on weekends. Mine are still scared of sprinklers though. I do need to be more adventurous with arts/crafts stuff, I just always worry about the mess.

 

We have lots of running around, chasing, tackling, wrestling, little boy mayhem in our house too! :laughing: We also spend a lot of time outside - earlier in the morning before it gets too hot, pool during the middle of the day, and outside again around 5:00 for about an hour. The outside play makes such a HUGE difference. Also, my little guys (just a little younger than your little guys) love playing with my older DS's Imaginext Batman Cave, Jungle, Pirate Ship, etc. - so I set all of those play things up on our sunporch with a big tub of "guys" and they will happily play with those for quite awhile.

 

Do they like to take a bath? Sometimes, if my two are just getting to be too much, I put some water in the tub & let them play in there while I sit in a chair beside the tub & read a book. It's nice for me and they will stay in there as long as I will let them, and no mess!

 

We're almost never home on the weekends. (DH and I both work FT too, and the kids are at preschool all day.) Only recently -- my girls are 4.5 -- have we been able to spend a couple of hours at home without the kids getting cranky. We go to parks, children's museums, science museum, playdates with friends, child-friendly cafes, the pool....

It sounds like your kids might benefit from being split up, too -- you could do more activities that aren't age-appropriate for all of them. It doesn't always have to be older DS by himself and twins together -- it might be fun for one parent to have alone time with one twin, and the other to do something with one twin and the older boy.

I used to like to relax and take it easy on the weekends too, but I've just accepted that's not going to happen again in my life until the kids are old enough to entertain themselves safely. In the meantime, to get a little peace & quiet, DH and I take turns taking the kids out of the house and letting the other parent have "alone time."

 

Do you have a mall with a play area? That would be nice and cool. I would try to get outside early in the day before it gets hot and let them burn off some energy. Do you have a play room? Maybe setup some outside stuff inside, like a climber, slide, etc. How about an easel? I do tend to let them watch more tv on really hot days that I don't want to go outside. I also find that if I go into the playroom with them, they are more likely to play in there and not trash the rest of the house.

 

We just let them run around like crazy and try to do the same with them as much as we can We do try to go somewhere one morning on the weekends (park, zoo, beach, play place, etc). We also often split them up that afternoon for errands. DH takes one to BJs and I take the other to the grocery store or something like that. The other morning is usually a lazy morning of block building, books, playing trains and just being wild at home. We have a kiddie pool and sprinkler that is good for afternoon. I'm not good about the crafts either, but mine are in daycare and do a lot of that there. The boys are 2 1/2 so it's a madhouse most of the time. There are of course rules (no hitting, no stealing toys, no jumping off of tall things) but most time outs come from tantrums.

 

Even though I work part time now and either myself or DH is always home with the kids (no more paying for a sitter!), the kids still seem to know the difference when the weekend arrives. They nap way less and seem to be crankier in the afternoons. I can tell you that my kids watch more tv than 1-2 hours a day. DH is incapable of saying no when they ask so they wait for him to wake up and then start whining for it.
When the mood gets too awful I try to redirect with a different activity. Sometimes it's as easy as putting a blanket on the floor and getting down on it myself, or turning the blanket into a tent. I might get the blocks out and start to make towers. I make a big deal out of getting clothes out of the washer and putting them in the dryer and them come along to help me.
I know that my kids need structure, but I hate the idea of planning my weekends out like that. I really do think things would be easier though if we had a schedule on the weekends instead of letting the boys have free play all day.