Hello, I am Eszter.
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I have a son, who is 4.5 years old.
I also have a daughter, who is 1.5 years old.
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Since I became a mom of 2, I get easily distracted so I prefer to read articles, which you can easily come back to.
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If you need to take a break, no need to blush. Let me find a picture of myself so this can become more personal for you. Even better, I will take a shot of myself right now:
I will share with you a day of mine, a day when Zoard is not in kindergarten.
OUR DAILY “SCHEDULE”
6 – we wake up
Breakfast
Messing around (free play)
I tidy up
8:30 – we go out (I previously discuss with Zoard what he is willing to put on with 1 alternative option or none)
10 – we have a snack (I usually tell Zoard ahead what lunch will be when possible)
I play with them both and I read to them
12 – lunch: many times my husband is in charge of our lunch
13 – Assya’s nap time starts (she naps for 2 hours)
Together time with Zoard (when we are in Thailand he goes swimming with my husband)
14 – Zoard’s nap time starts (he also naps for 2 hours)
15 – Assya wakes up and she has together time with me
16 – Zoard wakes up and we prepare for snack time
16:30 Snack time
17 we go out
18:30 dinner time
19 Together time with Assya
19:30-20 Bedtime for Assya
Together time with Zoard (unless he is out with my husband)
21 Bedtime for Zoard
I will attach some pictures and I will share with you my weaknesses, which are:
cooking with kids around and dinner time.
The schedule above is what we stick to when we are in Thailand and mostly on weekends when we are in Hungary. This picture is a pretty typical one from Thailand.
There are three categories of conflicts that can be triggered with Zoard.
1. Clothes
2. Food
3. And how we get to from A to B
1.)
Zoard has the same set of inside clothes that he picks out and wears until I tell him it has to be washed.
He has to take his clothes off while he eats and wear an underwear.
He has clothes for outside playing and photo shootings. It is not rare that I carry in my backpack his clothes for playing outside. Scroll back to the picture I just posted and look at his shoes. His outside clothes do not just have a few small holes and stains on them, some look like rags. Which is fine. There is a time for many things.
2.)
I now try to tell both kids ahead what they will eat. They can have sugarless snacks way before sleeping time. Everyone knows their own kids the best. Zoard and Assya really need to get their sleep otherwise they are cranky and fruit sugar effects their sleep, mood, energy level.
3.)
Zoard is the calmest when there is one way we go to places. If he gets the chance to make his own decision about how to go from A to B, he becomes one, who looks for an argument. He becomes frustrated and even violent because after he had picked out a route, he becomes uneasy when he feels like changing his mind or when the next day, we cannot take that same route.
For us, this schedule and the three triggers we pay attention to, helps a lot. It is much easier to say yes to everything else.
As you might have noticed, the popular term “me time” is missing from my schedule. Yes, we follow this schedule for a maximum of a month (when we are in Thailand) because otherwise, Zoard has kindergarten. When we are in Thailand, I do not go running, I do not meet anyone or have my hair done. I am absolutely fine with this since it is the price of being together. And I do get a lot of help from my husband!
Cooking with the kids around and dinner time is somewhat stressful for me. Many times, my husband cooks while I play with the kids. Or I make something very simple or I come up with a way to get the children involved in a safe way. I do not make lasagne in the company of Zoard and Assya.
Do you follow some rules at your home? Maybe even a schedule? Do you know what triggers your children’s grumpiness? And what helps?
Thank you for reading this post and say hello if you use Instagram @zoardandassya !
xoxo, Eszter
kukolina 