whirlwind of interruptions

[Dgooding]

oh boy, my husband and i both work at homes and there are times when especially the four year old is just going back and forth between us for no good reason and we're both telling her, "please wait we just have a little more to do..." and it works for about 10 seconds. then we say, "you know each time your interrupt me it takes me that much longer to help you / spend time with you." i am glad, at least, that she doesn't get sucked into watching TV and wants to do other things.
-d.gooding

[ellenmelon]

I remember Dennis the Menace cartoon always being pictured with a little dust dervish at his feet. After I had my own two I now understand why. Whirlwind of Interruptions. They should come with package directions!

[RobertaD]

Playdough & waterpaints work well for me but I have to make sure there is plenty of paper.

Roberta

[Sammi1961]

I work as a home daycare provider and when my own children get home from school, they want my undivided attention despite the fact that I still have little ones to attend to. I try to find just a few minutes to talk with my own children, ask about there day, and try to have then be just a little patient until I have more time for them but it isn't easy and they are older. Ever thought about hiring a pre-teen or teen to come in for a couple hours a day to play with you child? It might give you a couple of hours of uninterrupted time. They could work on art projects or other things while you worked.

[Denahowy]

Maybe you should start your child preparing for Kindergarten. I recommend workbooks with fun learning activities. Also lots of coloring books and crayons, also learning toys to teacher your child things to prepare for school. Then when your done with work you could go over colors, the alphabet and such and make it a real fun learning experience. Maybe tell the child if she does her work, her learning while you work, when you are done, You can both have fun with things together or enjoy a movie together, or you could read her a story. Also try having your spouse and you take turns spending time with her while the other works some too. That might help. I hope I helped you.

God bless.

[mbybee]

This may be an opportunity to teach your little one how to watch the clock. When you say 'wait just a few minutes', he has no way of knowing when that time is up or to see it approach, so he has to keep asking. But if you say somethin like 'When this hand points straight up to the sky, we can play'. [You can use the numbers if he can understand] A timer may help too. Congratulations for not just putting him in front of the TV.

[Crafty Amanda]

My kids are older now, the youngest is 9, so my interruptions are a little different, but they still exist!

One thing I found helpful when my kids were younger is to work in spurts. I would work for 30 minutes, then do something with the kids for 10-15 minutes. I had a pretend computer that we made from cardboard and a play phone so they could "work while I did. I also had a special box of crayons, markers etc that I kept ONLY for when I was on the phone. It worked great

[Can You Guess?]

Are the interruptions easier to harder as they get older?

[Crafty Amanda]

I would definitely say easier. At least when they are older to have more patience ;-)