In the past few weeks we’ve been struggling with a lot of sibling bickering, sassy backtalk, and physical aggression. I’ve done my best to redirect this behavior and to keep toys and activities fresh, but the behaviors persisted. As a result of these challenging behaviors, my own patience is dwindling.
When mentioning my frustrations to a friend, she kindly asked how much outdoor play the kids were getting. With triple digit heat, outdoor play has also been a struggle. Unless there is water involved, we have to be out early and truthfully, we haven’t been getting a full hour daily. Some days, after 30 minutes we are headed in to escape the heat.
Today I was set on getting at least an hour of outdoor play and sunshine, but we had to beat the heat to do it. When I heard the boys wake up at 6:40 am, I immediately asked them to get dressed. Bum-fuddled, they obliged. Then, I ushered them to the backyard where I served breakfast. It wasn’t long before a pair of sleepy headed girls joined us. After about 20 minutes of outdoor play, we decided it was time for a morning bike ride. Once all four were helmet clad, we set out to burn some rubber. There was nice cloud cover so we stayed out riding for about an hour. It was glorious! There was some bickering and pushing later in the day, but it was better.
Tomorrow we will repeat this extra early outdoor play and see if it continues to improve everyone’s mood and behavior.
What are your favorite outdoor activities?
Hugs,
Amber
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This was a post I needed! Tho my twins are a year younger than your quads, they have lately been physical towards each other, back talking me like they’re teenagers – and it came out of now where! But come to think of it, with this heat, they’re inside most of the day. Yuck!
I would love to hear if those behaviors improve in your house and how they did. Thanks!
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It’s summer cabin fever!!! When we get outside daily it really helps. It’s a huge challenge to beat the heat though 😦
This is hard to do, but it also helps when I give my most physical boy lots of “jobs” that occupy him, use large muscles, and make him feel valuable. For example, he likes pushing the laundry basket to and from the laundry room. Are yours 3 yet? Threenagers are quite challenging….
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