Comments on: I am a rock star! http://dadomatic.com/i-am-a-rock-star/ The Ultimate Resource for Dad by Dads Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:52:32 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Charlie Profit http://dadomatic.com/i-am-a-rock-star/comment-page-1/#comment-3049 Charlie Profit Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:23:04 +0000 http://dadomatic.com/?p=2777#comment-3049 As Todd mentioned in his comment, distractions work great. And that is essentially what you are doing by playing the guitar, singing and dancing. As I blogged about "distractions" here, http://bit.ly/Q7toh, I think it is the most positively effective method to get children to calm down; whether it be just because they are riled up from having fun, or because they are upset. And music most certainly is a great choice of distractions. One thing I have done, that has caught my children off guard is to tell them they have 5 more minutes (or 10-15 depending on your level of patience) to scream and holler as loud as they want, but then it's done. I get their buy-in first that they agree (and pinkie promise) that after the time limit is up, that they will then be calm and quiet for the rest of the night. Hasn't failed me yet! As Todd mentioned in his comment, distractions work great. And that is essentially what you are doing by playing the guitar, singing and dancing. As I blogged about “distractions” here, http://bit.ly/Q7toh, I think it is the most positively effective method to get children to calm down; whether it be just because they are riled up from having fun, or because they are upset. And music most certainly is a great choice of distractions.

One thing I have done, that has caught my children off guard is to tell them they have 5 more minutes (or 10-15 depending on your level of patience) to scream and holler as loud as they want, but then it’s done. I get their buy-in first that they agree (and pinkie promise) that after the time limit is up, that they will then be calm and quiet for the rest of the night. Hasn’t failed me yet!

]]> By: Todd Jordan http://dadomatic.com/i-am-a-rock-star/comment-page-1/#comment-3048 Todd Jordan Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:39:07 +0000 http://dadomatic.com/?p=2777#comment-3048 You get my vote for this one. Calming the kids on the drive involved sign-along time. That would get them distracted and stop the squabbles. In the evening I had much less success, but one thing that worked a bit with our younger son was having him get his pajamas on, but with me 'helping'. I'd ask him if he was going to put his top on his legs, or put is pants on his head. He'd get distracted from being unhappy about bed time while correcting his dad. You get my vote for this one. Calming the kids on the drive involved sign-along time. That would get them distracted and stop the squabbles.

In the evening I had much less success, but one thing that worked a bit with our younger son was having him get his pajamas on, but with me ‘helping’. I’d ask him if he was going to put his top on his legs, or put is pants on his head. He’d get distracted from being unhappy about bed time while correcting his dad.

]]>