I saw an article in the December 2014 issue of Today’s Parent magazine and it was a good reminder that we parents CAN have fun while parenting. We think that being parents means that we have to be serious when it comes to dealing with our children’s behaviours.

Here are some fun ways to deal with some of those day-to-day things:

MORNING ROUTINE:
Can’t get your child to get dressed in the morning? This can be a real pain so add a bit of silliness.
Put your child’s pants on his head and as you struggle to put them on his head, you’ll find your child laughing at how silly you are and correcting you as to where the pants actually go.

MEALTIMES:
Mealtimes can become quite a battleground with children not wanting to eat what’s on their plates.
Make dinnertime about conversation not about the food. Sit down and talk about the best/worst/silliest/funniest part of the day. Once children are talking they will forget what’s on their plate. You could also use something like the “Ungame” for conversation starters.

If the dinner table has become a real battleground, shake it up a bit. Take a blanket, spread it UNDER the table and eat there. The children will be so excited about this that they will forget about what is on their plate.

WHINING:
“Please use words that I can understand.” can be frustrating to continually say as well as hear.
So instead say, “Can you please change the channel? This seems to be the whining channel.” Then go up and push the child’s nose as if you were changing the channel on the TV.

SIBLING RIVALRY:
Children will fight and it is healthy for them to fight and to be able to work their battles on their own once they have been taught how problem solving skills, but once in a while this is fun too when you see two children fighting over a toy.
Grab the toy they are fighting over turn it over in your hands while saying, “No wonder you guys are fighting over this toy! This is so cool. I want to play with it!” then run away with the toy. The children will end up chasing you for the toy, working together to get the toy back from you. Once they have gotten the toy back you can tell them what a good job they did at working together to get the toy back from you.

TOY CLEANUP:
Once the clean up song stops working it’s time to switch things up a bit.
Have the children pretend that they are vacuum cleaners or magnets.
Do something similar to musical chair and play music while the toys are being picked up and whoever has a toy in their hand when the music goes off needs to pick up two toys.
Play cumulative clean up. Have each child pick up one toy and put it away, then two at a time, then three at a time, etc. Once it gets to be too large of a number, then decrease the number of toys they need to pick up at a time.

BEDTIME PROCRASTINATION:
Here‘s a nice way to deal with the procrastinating child.
After the story, drink, toilet, tuck your child into bed. Have you child come up with a happy thought or a happy place. Have him talk about this place or thought. Then slowly count from 5 and “Poof!” the spell has been cast. Clap your hands, pretend to crack an egg and then run your hands down your child’s body to spread the yolk all the way down to his toes. Now your child has been covered with a love yolk. This is a nice way to get them relaxed and settled in for the night.