ok, erilyns morning til 10 o'clock is structured around PBS kids shows. we watch arthur, clifford, caillou, and sesame street. all of a sudden, today after clifford we get a documentary on military funerals/arlington. i'm really upset! there are no other kids cartoons on at 830am, and the stupid stations web site even says caillou should be on! they are ruining my computer time!

ok to make this rant complete---pbs has fixed the problem, but the kids were so out of sorts i've already locked them in their room to calm down.

[ 11-16-2004, 09:12 AM: Message edited by: RevRuby ]

Damn...Well, at least she got to watch Arthur [img]tongue.gif[/img]
I love that show :D

Our local channels frequently run shows that are different from what they have listed.

Just an idea, RR but isn't there anything else the kids could do at that hour if their shows aren't on to stay occupied and have fun? Do they read or have any puzzles or games they really like or anything? How about a video? [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 11-16-2004, 09:39 AM: Message edited by: Cloudbringer ]

Lol, worst comes to worst, you could tape the show every couple of days, and if it happens again, just play the tape, and hope that they think that everything is normal. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

We have an extensive collection of taped shows... they're really handy later on in the afternoon, when kid-friendly cartoons and such tend to fade away.

VCRs with Veggie Tales will do the trick. ;)

<font color=skyblue>Since I have taken a child development course, I understand what is happening here. Kids this age are very ritualistic and need a routine to keep things normal for them. For example, if I forget to floss MaryBeth's teeth after helping her brush at night and tell her to go n to bed now...she will begin to cry and jump around because we have broken the normal routine.

I think that the above-mentioned idea of having a taped showing of each of the shows kids are used to watching at that time is a good idea in case of trouble like what has happened.

Now, if you want to fix this problem, locking them up in their room will not help because they think they are being punished for something that they were unable to understand. Thier routine is a must for them, as that is what they understand. Many people treat kids like little adults, which was the mainstream view point of the 1400s from what my professor has taught us. in fact, they are far from that, and do not even know why they are feeling so upset about the loss of a routine.

Think of it as Withdrawl symptoms. If a chain smoker stops cold one day, he will freak out after a short while.

I have asked my professor about this already, because I didn't like how Karen had gotten into the habit of carrying MaryBeth to bed. I had told Karen to stop, because she has back problems and when she did MaryBeth fought against this change with everything she could muster. Being at 8pm at night did not help her mood, either. The professor told me that I ahve to ease her off of it like I would with any addiction. Instead of every night, it would be every other night. Then every two nights. Then once a week. Eventually, she would get that idea that rides were a special treat and not a routine.

I hope this helps. Try to understand that the kids need structure and diciplined outlines to follow on a daily basis. </font>

actually to go along with routines, we watch one video a day (unless it's the sign langauge video, that is by request) and it comes after nap. i didn't so much lock them up in the room as let them know the behavior, no matter why, was unacceptable and laid them down. they changed their minds about their attitudes and played.

again with routines (in reply to cloudy) yeh they have tons of crap to play with. at 10 am when kids shows no longer comeon our tv. that's mommy's tv time. they play then. the only exceptions to when kids shows stop, when mommy's tv time is and when video's are played is for treats, either for well behaving little girls, or sick little girls.

their behavior this morning was terrible! as soon as they did not get what they expected they came to me and bawled, and fought over who was inf ront of mommy. mommy has enough lap (for now) for everyone, and as erilyn knows and carol is finding out, there is waking behavior, and tired behavior, if a child cannot behave like it's time to be awake then it's time to sleep, or as int his case, rest. it is a less stressful form of timeout for me because i do not feel their eyes int he back of my head, nor do i have to hold them down. they know simply that they have behaved badly. any normal childcare giver would have seen it all as signs of tiredness, i just act on it.

sorry felt a need to defend myself. as i said video's are not a morning option. if we watch more than one video tape a day erilyn feels she can take over the tv/vcr. so a video this morning, may have been an option, if i had been asked for one, or even if i had the time to notice the schedule change before they blew up. eitherway, here they are now, waiting to be put down for a real nap. ttyl