Dealing With Rebellious, Challenging Children

As my children are getting older, they are able to communicate with me a lot more. However, there were times they rebelled whenever David and I ordered them to do the simple chores or eating healthy nutrition.

Right now, I am dealing a lot to keep their disciplines up:

1) Requires them to eat two of Omega-3 Vitamins before getting out of their table. Otherwise, they will have to stay at the table for an entire time until they finish swallow the vitamins..

It happened to Dylan, who refused to use Omega-3 Vitamins. His brother was the opposite. Thus, my sister in law and I made him to sit at the table. We have watched him making ugly face, begging, tearing his eyes. But he eventually swallowed two Vitamins an hour later. Was I being mean?

Just this evening, my husband and I encouraged Ryan to drink a whole cup of milk during his meal. His tenancy to drink at least one fourth of cup. We told him that using a cup of milk will increase his calcium.

Know what he said to us? He said, "You don't talk to me. You both are being rude." Right after his comment, I had a snap and told him immediately, " I am going upstairs to turn your computer off until you finish the whole milk!" Boy, he was MAD at me. But my punishment worked because he then drank the entire milk.

2) Requires to do simple chores: taking light trashes out, making their own bed, putting their toys away. Once in a while, I encourage them to shredded the OLD and important papers. If they don't help me, then their privilege will be taken away: TV or computer. Or I would dare to throw their favorite toy to Goodwill ! (that was my sister in law's advice, thanks!)

Just this afternoon, Dylan and Ryan helped me to shredded the papers with my supervision. They nearly gave up. I told them. " You will not be able to keep the Hot Wheels you have it in the boxes if you don't help me." It scared the heck out of them!

Their behavior had changed a lot better after I had shared my frustration with my sister in law. I even asked her to talk to them out because I know too often children listened to other adults better than their own parents. I thanked to my sister in law, Deby who took her time to yalk them out last week.

There were times of this evening, I simply asked them to put the dishwasher towels, plastic bags and few other small things away for me. They made NO obligation. Let's hope their behavior continue this way.

If you have any valuable lesson you have learned from your parents, please give me an example and I might use it for my kids if their misconduction appear again.

Business Trip

This is the first Business Trip I will be out of town for two days. It is mainly about teaching me how to work with Pre-Schoolers on Handwriting Without Tears. I will fill more blog news when I return.

1. Handwriting Without Tears Workshop
2. Challenging Kids
3. Mr. Mom's Weekend
4. ?????

Silly Billy

That is the our Silly Billy Son, Ryan.
From the Webster Dictionary, "Silly Billy" defines a clownish person.
Thus it suits Ryan's personality


Ryan thought putting goggle would be the best
to see through the sprinkles.

Ryan tried to tell us that he was exhausted and
wanted to hit the sack in his suitcase.

WITHOUT Training Wheels!

How old did you learn to ride a bike without training wheels? I did ride a bike without training wheels at around six years old, but Dylan is nearly 7 and a half year old. It was time that we had to MAKE him do it, but we finally got him out to the bike trial to learn to ride his bike without training wheels.

This morning, David and I decided to take our children to our nearby Community College. It was a perfect place to teach our son, Dylan because our home has few downhills. Thus, it was not a good place to teach him because he easily surrenders it. At a community college vacant parking lots, we started off helping him. We eventually let him go without telling him.

David and I did a great job helping him out. In just a couple of minutes, Dylan was riding his bike all by himself. While David and Ryan were watching him riding on his own, they were rooting out for him from the back of our van, eating peanuts.

Yet, he needs to work on starting riding on a bike without a push... but it will come. Once our mission accomplishes, we will start working with Ryan.

P.S. The truth was that I had to bribe him by taking him out to the pool. Of course, he will need to learn to jump more than 5 feet deep and swim across the pool. He was gladly accepted. My bribe worked!

Bon Voyage Party

Have you had a family Bon Voyage Party? I didn't until last Saturday with all of my husband's family. There were twenty-five of us attending the Bon Voyage Party at my parents in law's house. This time it was my parents in law's idea by taking us to Disney Cruise. Yep, you are right there will be twenty five of us going on a Disney Cruise for a week, starting on July 4th, 2009. That is a perfect gift because it will be our tenth anniversary.

After we all settled from eating our delicious hefty meal, we started playing our Disney game. The first game was having all of 14 grandchildren standing in the line. Each of them had to find their own suitcase with a name on it. The adults counted the numbers down 3.. 2.. 1.. BLAST OFF for the children to find their own suitcase. Their high energies had kept them going until they discovered their own personal suitcase. That involved the younger kids finding their own little character suitcases such as Hello Kitty, Spiderman, Cars, and Thomas and His Friends. My kids got their own favorite color suitcase: Orange and Red.

Once each of them has their own suitcase, we started playing Disney Trivia games. The younger kids had three basic questions: What is the name of the Cruise? Where will we be flying out? and Name of the seven dwarfs. Dylan was in a second place. He was not pleased to be in a second place. What a bad sportsmanship he was in! As a result, it was due that he was exhausted from staying up late watching the Fireworks. He ended up taking a two hour nap in his grandparents' guest room. As for the teenagers, they were asked about the longitude, latitude and few other questions. There was no loser in the trivia game. Every kid was a winner. The prize was getting their own goggles, flip flops and towels.

The teenagers ended up watching "Golden Compass" in their grandparents' room. Some of them laid on a floor in a front of the T.V. Others were lying on a very soft bed. (I wished I had that kind of a bed.) The younger kids were out playing with the toys out in the patio. One of my nephews enjoyed spilling the really COLD water over my feet. Boy, it was really cold but it felt so good. His innocent made me laugh.

Before the evening fell, one of the family members had to leave for home: Utah. It was awful a long way for them just to come to the Bon Voyage Party. Still, we will see them for an entire week on a Disney Cruise. That would be an exciting for all of us to get to know each other a whole lot better.

That even include visiting on Cast Away Cay Island that Disney owns the island. We only have 362 more days left to go !!! OH, all of us can't wait to go on a Disney Cruise.

Fun on our 4th of July!

Every year, we spend the 4th of July with David's family to chat, play, eat and watch the fireworks. Each of us was supposed to bring our meat for lunch and dinner. This time, I brought hot dogs because there were many other meat: chickens, hamburgers and few other meats. This time, I only ate mostly vegetables and fruits. It is not that I am vegetarian.

Then after all of us especially the kids were stuffed from lunch, it was time for the kids to do something fun. I brought a Super ball Sprayer. The kids LOVED it. They even like drinking water. At first, my youngest nephew, Logan was not happy to get himself wet. But with the heat, he started begging to drink more water. Soon my other nieces copied Logan.

But not Dylan and Ryan ! They were consumed with the water. Dylan, my older son grabbed his beach towel, took it over where the water squirting was, and had his towel over his head. Ryan decided to revenge his water by shooting the water at him. Dylan kept saying, "Stop Ryan!" Of course, Ryan wouldn't listen.

Not too long after the kids playing with the water, each of the kids had Firecracker Popsicle. OH, what a perfect treat! The next year for the treat would be a Home-made Ice Cream. That would be fun for all of us, including kids sitting on a cold little barrel. Even better, we can even make a home made ice cream sandwich. Does it make your mouth watering ?

I brought more activities for the kids to do for the 4th of July. I purchased the Bubble Generator. Boy, they loved it. Their giggles made all of us smiling. That included my husband, David. It lasted for a few minutes before we had to settle themselves down before the younger kids headed for home. Yet, we stayed for the fireworks.
By nine pm, my kids were the only ones stayed up late to watch the fireworks from the backyard while the other nieces and nephews went home early. Ryan jumped ups and downs at every time the fireworks appeared. He just laughed and loved it! We could feel the wooden porch being bounced. Right after it ended, we all hit the road until we arrived home.

Dylan's Post Surgery

On Monday afternoon, I took my older son, Dylan to have his two outer, bottom, baby teeth pull out in order to get his two inner, bottom, adult teeth straighten out. He has not eaten for six straight hours before the surgery. It was not an easy task for him because he likes FOOD!

By the time we arrived at the dentist office, he told me, "I will be brave to go because I am thinking of being a Peter Pan!" I liked his positive attitude. Then, his dad met us at the office. Dylan changed his mind and preferred to have his dad instead of me going with him in a surgery office. That was fine with me because his comfort was more important to me.

As soon he got in, the dentist gave him a Bubble Gum-Cherry Flavor sedative medication cup. Is it rad that the dentist office created variety of flavors for kids? Shortly after he finished drinking a cup, he was back in the office. He was being strapped around his wrists, legs and head in order not to move during the surgery. Then, the dentist gave him the medication to numb around his bottom gum and antithesis around his nose. Once two bottom teeth came out, David and I were stunned to see one inches long. So, he will write another letter for Tooth Fairy to earn extra point for the dentist.

An hour after his surgery, I bought him of his favorite drink, a Tall Orange Dream Machine from Jamba Juice. He was so GLAD he was able to drink it. He sat on our driveway where the sun would warm him up. Dylan admitted that the surgery office was COLD. That explains why he had his face toward the sun.

After he finished a whole cup of Orange Dream Machine, he was still HUNGRY! He pleaded for a bowl of oatmeal. During his meal, he was still cold and had his blanket covering around him. Still only one bowl of oatmeal was not enough. He had request for a second bowl of oatmeal.
Clearly, he was "FAMISHED."

Once he finished eating two bowls of oatmeal and a large drink of Orange Dream Machine, he soon was feeling sleepy. Dylan almost fell asleep out in our backyard patio. There was no way I could carry him to the couch. I had to wake him up and put him down on a couch. From then, he slept for straight twelve hours!