Okay, my yearly post--WHEN IS THIS GOING TO GET EASIER?

So, I seem to post this every year, thinking that I won't possibly need to next year! :mellow: My boys are still really hard and they will be 5 in a month! They are GREAT at preschool, church, playdates. They sleep great at night. They are super smart--1st grade math curriculum, they both read, etc. etc. BUT, they have a "twinergy" that is really hard! I still have a difficult time taking them to the store. Today I got the double race car cart. They couldn't keep their hands off each other. They were loud--either squealing in delight while "racing" or bothering each other to the point of tears. Constant touching each other, and their voices just keep escalating because they want to be heard over the other. I was so embarrassed! And no amount of "Could you please lower your voices?" changes their behavior. I sent Austin to his room for 10 minutes and told him that I was coming in 10 minutes and I wanted to hear everything that he thought went wrong with the shopping trip. He knew everything! So, they know what they are doing, but can't seem to stop, KWIM? I try to run errands without them as much as I can, but I really would like it if they could stand in line, or even LISTEN! They are hard at home too, but I can separate them easily and give them different things to do.

Anyway, things are really competitive and LOUD here and I certainly didn't parent them any different than my older 2 kids who are as good as gold.

 

I wish I knew. Mine will be five in November and they are giving me new challenges every day. Lately they've been hurting each other and I don't like it. One minute it's Kelly pushing Kaitlyn or someone "accidentally" stepping on someone's hand. Then Kaitlyn has turned into a tattletale. If Kelly doesn't help her or if someone at the playground does something that she knows is wrong she had to run and tell me. And, they love telling us no lately.

And I understand where you are coming from. In some respects they are great. They are smart, they are helpful and affectionate. But once they get on a roll they drive me crazy.

 

Ah, life with 5-year-old boys! I think of that part in the Grinch, when he's complaining, "Oh, the noise, noise, noise, NOISE, NOISE!!!" I have to tell mine to quiet down constantly. My fave trick in public is to interrupt their noise-making, using a soft voice myself, very close to them, and say, "Listen for a minute. Do you hear anyone else in this store making noise?" And they'll listen and realize they are being loud, and it usually helps them use softer voices, at least for a while. And I know it has sunk in, because my older son often uses the exact same trick on them when we're all out together!

Unfortunately, rambunctious is part of the age, and it's compounded with two of them. Mine also are angels at school and church, and they are sweet as pie when I take them anywhere on their own. But the dynamic changes entirely when they're together. I took them to Kohl's last night. I told them they had to keep their hands off each other and stay where I could see them. They did neither. They insisted they wouldn't lose me. So when they ran amongst the clothing racks (which if you've ever been to Kohl's, you know there are hundreds of them, packed densely together), I just kept walking down the aisle. I could hear them and knew where they were, but they lost sight of me. They panicked and I walked back to them, and that was the last time they went out of my sight, by their own choice.

Then with the pushing/wrestling/fake swordfighting and karate moves: I told them the next person to purposefully bump into or push his brother would lose Playstation privileges the next day. They each managed to lose one day of Playstation, but that was it. Once they knew I was serious, they stopped and walked nicely.

I don't blame them for being restless in a store that has NOTHING interesting for them to do or look at, and I was taking my sweet time. We got through it OK, and they offered apologies on the way back to the car and (of course) promises to never do that again.

So when does it get better? I don't know. With more than one, there will always be different challenges. IMO, this is still far easier than the first year. They're good boys, as I'm sure yours are, too, and a little rambunctiousness now and then is to be expected now and then. Find the threat that makes them stop, and use it, and you should be alright. Hang in there!

 

i have two boys and and instigator.. is this what i have to look forwar to???

:help: :drinks:

 

Thanks, Amy. You've described by boys to a "T". Complete with sword fighting. And mine are great by themselves as well. I guess it's just a twin thing. Or maybe a twin boy thing?

 

NO, No, no,no,nonononononon. this is not what "you people" are supposed to be telling us! LOL

They are supposed to calmly and quietly keep each other occupied. Isn't this the "reason" "we" had them at the same time?!

Yeah, I think it is just that they have energy-oh boy do they have energy and together it is not simply added together once but multiplied and compounded with interest. I joke with my realative that they have so much evergy that it work as a vortex and suckes all the other evergy from the room.

So, I guess I am resigned to the fact the I am going to be exhausted FOREVER!

 

lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala I can't hear you because my fingers are in my ears because I don't want to know what to look forward to in 4 years lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala!!!