bummy bummy poo bum

Walking into the childrens preschool, there are signs outlining the contagious diseases that some children may have been exposed to. The preschool is really quite diligent with keeping us informed, however they seem to have missed one highly contagious and extremely irritating ailment that is migrating throughout our 3yr olds.... The words ‘Bummy Bummy Poo Bum’

What is it about these particular words that has children repeating them over and over and over again? What makes them laugh so hard and egg each other on to keep saying them? Most importantly, what is the best way to handle it when they say it?

Although I've not tried any of the following suggestions myself and in no way endorse them, here a few ideas I've gathered from mothers, teachers and my good friend 'google':

 IGNORE:

PROS: not rewarding the bad language with attention. There is the possibility that they will just grow out of it....

CONS: you may have to hear it every day for the next 4 years

HAVE THE CHILD REPEAT THE WORD FOR ONE MINUTE FOR EACH YEAR OF THEIR AGE. ie a 4yr old would repeat the word continuously for 4 minutes:

PROS: Mildly entertaining. May give children an opportunity to outgrow it faster and to take the amusement away from it.

CONS: May encourage the usage of such words and make the problem worse.

HAVING A STERN TALK:

PROS: While you are talking, they are not, therefore, they will not be able to use the words for 5 minutes or so.

CONS: Increasing frustration when you stop talking and they start talking again.

But as a good friend of mine pointed out recently, 2 minutes back at preschool and it all starts again. Is it worth the struggle or should we just grit our teeth and wait patiently, pretending that it doesn't drive us crazy for long enough that they don't find it funny anymore? I'll let you know!

Fast fact: A study by the Parents Television Council found that about once an hour children watching popular children's networks will hear mild curse words such as "stupid," "loser" and "butt." The scope and frequency can rise immeasurably with exposure to adult programs and popular music.

Going live!

Thank you to my wonderful follower - a beautiful mother of 2 children who i just adore! After discussing this blog with my follower, I have decided to start putting it out there a little more. My main concern was that it really isn't polished, it's higgledy piggledy and often rushed... but I guess that just sums up parenthood. I would love a professional blog but that would undermine the intention of this particular project; I don't have a mahogany desk with a view, I have a laptop on the arm of my lounge, typing wildly before the munchkins reappear from their afternoon naps. I know that there are many parents out there trying to achieve everything from dishes to their tax refunds during this wonderful 'siesta' and it is hard!

I have gone through periods where I used this naptime to just rest, then motherguilt took over and I used the time to set up craft activities for the afternoon. I became so tired after a few weeks of 14 hour days with no break that I felt depleted and my tolerance became non-existant. GUILT. I stopped doing craft activities to let more natural activities take over but we seemed to do be doing nothing. GUILT. fill in these hours with organised activities and the chilren became worn out. GUILT. Meet up with a friend whose 3yr old can count to 30, realise I haven't counted with Master 3 since February. GUILT. Keep both children at home with me and they fight for personal attention. GUILT. Put them in care on opposite days so I can dedicate a day to each child... Hmmm... not feeling guilty... should I be feeling guilty..? I bet i should be... Why am I not feeling guilty?? CRAP! Now I'm feeling guilty about not feeling guilty - AARRRRGGGGHHH!

So where is all this pressure coming from?

terrible threes vs terrible twos

Really! what do you think? Terrible 2s or terrible 3s? I am split with my choice... I always thought the language barrier with a 2 year old was incredibly frustrating (for both mum and baby). I found an amazing glimpse of hope when I saw the first signs of being able to reason with Master 3. Then that reason started to work against me. Now i have the same strong willed child who may or may not listen to my requests, who makes up his own mind, mainly in line with what would be expected but sometimes making decisions that come from somewhere I've never been... and then the heels dig in and the emotions take over. At this point I think this is so much harder than the terrible 2s... and then Miss 2 starts demanding (and demanding, and demanding...) I have never known a child who knows what she wants so well... down to which bowl she wants to use, which spoon, how full she wants her bowl filled, what pair of socks she wants to wear, what colour jumper she wants to wear (regardless of whether she owns that jumper) and all with her wonderful little words that all kind of sound alike unless you know exactly what she means before she says it.
So if these 'terrible 2s' and 'terrible 3s' end up hitting you at the same time.... well, i guess it can only get better from here!

Oh, the mess!!

So after how many weeks of the children constantly fighting, I finally found the fool proof solution - give up... I got a blanket and laid on the couch and told the children that they were not to whinge to me - that i am off limits unless they were willing to use their words to sort out their problems. To start with I had a few complaints which were answered with 'use your words and tell master 3 to stop'. Then a miracle happened... when i stopped intervening, they started to work it out for themselves!
Of course, this may have just been a lucky coincidence and not fool proof at all but i have seen some benefits of stepping back. I had a wonderful time yesterday listening to them laughing and working together, I was so happy feeling like a wonderful mum. I went out to see what had them so enthralled only to find my washing powder strewn all over the lawn. Again, last night, they were playing beautifully. I again, naively, let them carry on in the belief that they were really getting closer. Well, after a while I thought they needed some  intervention.... OMG my house was like an episode of 'Horders'. How did they make SO much mess in such a short period?? Wipes, books, garbage bags etc everywhere... Is this the new price of having children who love each other? Why is turning the house upside down such a fantastic bonding experience?? Would I change anything? No.