Every parent knows the kind of night I’m talking about. The kind where your 3 year old just does not want to go to bed for anything. Despite the glaze in their eyes that tell you your child is really most of the way asleep, you keep seeing him or her wandering the house wanting just one more thing.

It goes about like this for me:

Just like any other night, I take my son to the potty, let him do whatever he’s going to do there, put on his diaper and jammies, read him a story, rock him in the darkened room, give hugs and put him to bed.

Too bad it didn’t work.

Five minutes later he’s up again. Thirsty. So he takes a drink and is put back to bed.

A few minutes later he’s up again, needing the potty. He wants to poop, so it takes a while. He requests the ‘Everyone Poops’ book. He listens to it with great zeal, as only a 3 year old can. Who knew that listening could be done so enthusiastically? But of course no progress is made on the potty during the story, yet after he insists he still needs to go.

Fifteen to twenty minutes later, he’s added about 2 drops of liquid to the toilet and is ready to concede that he’s done going potty. Time to brag to Daddy that he went potty!

Back to bed he goes. He complains that I did something and his back needs to be kissed better. I guess it’s better than saying I hurt his toes or somewhere else. I tuck him back in and turn out the light.

He’s up again because he’s sad. He doesn’t know why he’s sad, he just is. And only Mommy is allowed to put him back to bed, despite Daddy’s offer.

Ten minutes later he’s playing with his sister’s door, wanting to get her up too. Thank goodness she’s deep asleep. This time Daddy does put him to bed.

Zombie-like, he’s up again. His eyes barely register my approach. No particular reason to be up this time, so back to bed he goes. Finally, he remains in bed.

It’s been a long night, but at least sleepy children average sweet when they want to stay up so badly. Better than dealing with tantrums, high fevers or vomiting for a reason to stay up half the night. Maybe now I can get to bed.

When I got my copy of Please Don’t Label My Child, I figured it for a fairly interesting read. While no one professional has tried to tell me either of my kids might have Attention Deficit Disorder or something like it, my inlaws have raised the possibility. I don’t consider it a possibility myself. She’s not the most focused child, but she’s also just 5. I think she just needs time to figure out how to behave at school.

But the more of it I read, the more interested I got. The author included a lot of individual examples where children who others considered to be ADHD or to have other emotional health problems were helped without medications. Should I ever face that kind of thing with my own kids, that’s exactly how I’d want to handle it too.

It’s horrifying when you read about how many kids are being given medications for various behavioral issues. This is an issue that people have been aware of for years, yet too many are willing to just follow a doctor’s advice and use the medications. It’s easier, after all, even though some medications have serious potential side effects. I found this article on it from 2004, in which the spending on behavior modifying drugs had outpaced spending on antibiotics and asthma medications.

That’s just depressing to me.

Please Don’t Label My Child gives some wonderful tips on what else can be done. Consider the circumstances, for example. Of course a child will misbehave if there are current or past problems in his or her life that are not being properly addressed.

Probably my favorite section was on bullying. My daughter had to deal with a classmate who she found rather challenging. She has an active fantasy life while he takes everything seriously and wanted her to do likewise. Just a few words from him and she’d just droop.

Not quite bullying, in my mind, or at least I don’t feel he meant it that way, but it certainly had an impact on her until she learned how to cope with it. This book did help me to think on her reactions to it and how to help her a little.

If you’re a parent, I do very much so recommend this book. You may never face the situation of having someone recommend one of these medications for your child, but why not be prepared for it, in case? You’ll find the insights in general quite interesting.

Easter isn’t a hectic holiday for all families, but this year it was for mine. My side of the family got together on Saturday at my house. My daughter had a friend’s birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese that she attended on Saturday night. Then we spent Easter itself with my husband’s parents.

Yep. I’m tired.

And of course, there’s all the Easter candy. The kids got the big chocolate bunnies from my mom, small ones from my husband and I, and small ones from my husband’s parents. Suffice it to say they have more than plenty of chocolate.

So now we’re off to try and recover from all the craziness.

One of the basic rules we have is that each kid can keep their candy separate a few days. After that, it all goes in one bag. They’re actually looking forward to this, since I told them they could smash the big bunnies into pieces at that time. What child doesn’t love destruction? I just have to figure out how to keep it from making a mess all around. Probably have to break them a little myself and throw into a Ziploc first.

There’s a trick to coping with the excess of Easter candy afterward. A couple tricks, I suppose really, and it just depends on what works for your family.

For my kids, they get some candy each day, but still pretty limited. Just less of a limit than usual. The further we get from the holiday, the closer our control of their candy consumption gets to the usual limits.

The candy usually lasts us a few months, especially the chocolate, which ends up in the freezer after being broken into pieces.

Then there’s the real trick… winding the kids back down.

I think it generally works pretty well to get things back onto a normal track as soon as possible after a holiday. The kids are all wound up from the change in routine, and getting them back on routine quickly really seems to help matters most holidays.

This time some of that is pretty easy. My daughter’s school has spring break starting in about 2 weeks, and school does mean some sort of routine is being established for her. I know a lot of schools are doing spring break this week, which of course means more challenges for parents dealing with that.

Today’s routine is pretty much one of relaxation. No friends over today, since there was plenty of social time all weekend for the kids. I might end up watching a friend’s son a few days this week, which will mean changes in our schedule, but since he has a leg injury, the kids won’t be allowed to get too wild around him. I’ve found that a single, really relaxing day does a lot for winding the kids down from an excess of excitement, especially if I also rebuild their routine.

All parents have some sort of food battle with kids. It’s just how these things work.

Not last night’s dinner,
but it sure looks good!

For example, last night I told my daughter we were having fish for dinner. She’s eaten it well in the past, so no worries, right?

Except she has suddenly decided she doesn’t like fish. Before it’s done cooking and even before she’s seen it.

I really should have said ‘chicken’. Odds are good she would have eaten it then.

So I played around with her a little. I had a topping on the fish, and she readily admitted that she loved the topping. It was a mix of bread crumbs, chopped cashews, honey and mustard. Really wonderful, and she admitted that she loved the topping.

So I told her about the nuts. Hey, the main part of the dinner was spoiled anyhow.

Immediately she announced that well… there was something in there she didn’t like and that was the nuts.

Cashews are the only nuts she likes when she admits to liking nuts. I know she was trying to play with my mind as much as I did with her when I mentioned the nuts. Besides, she kept nibbling it, if a bit slower.

Feeding kids is a funny thing. A favorite food one day is loathed another. And somehow it seems like just about all of them will eat any meat labeled ‘chicken’.

No matter what it really is.

We’ve been having some rainy weather here lately, and I can see how cooped up the kids are feeling. I’ve let them play outside some, but it takes their shoes a long time to dry from all the water and mud. Especially the mud.

When the weather turns cold, keeping the kids busy gets more challenging. They can’t just play outside all day in a lot of cases, and often simply don’t want to. It’s enough to wear any parent down.

Sometimes doing this on a budget can be challenging as well. As a stay at home mom, I don’t have that much of a budget for entertaining the kids, even though I would love to be able to enroll them in all the activities they would enjoy. My daughter very much so wants dance and acting classes, for example, but those aren’t in the budget.

Doing these things informally at home is quite possible. She won’t be learning the techniques that a class would teach her, but her creativity is being strongly encouraged.

Puppet shows are a fairly regular feature in our home. A sheet tossed over the footboard posts makes her preferred theater.

Cardboard boxes are the classic, of course. It may take a few tries, but you can get double thickness ones from Home Depot for free. Just go in shortly before closing and talk to a manager about having the night crew save one for you. With any luck, it will indeed be there in the morning. Appliance boxes also work well if you happen to note a delivery in your area.

Heading out to the library is another great option. Not only do most have story time for younger children, but you can check out books with more craft ideas.

A good supply of craft supplies is essential. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but markers, crayons, paints, paper bags, popsicle sticks, paper plates, glue and so forth leave a lot of room for creativity.

A treasure hunt can also be a lot of fun. It also helps kids learn how to look for things. Show them what you’re going to hide, and leave a series of clues for them to follow.

Don’t forget the chores. Even 2 year olds can help out a little. Sometimes their help is more of a hindrance when they’re young, but it makes them very happy. Even if you do have to sweep the floor over again at nap time.

Go through old photo albums or do a slide show of the pictures on your computer. We use our digital pictures for a screen saver on our computers, which means we get to see them regularly, and the kids love watching them and asking questions.

It’s easy for boredom to strike during cold weather. Fortunately it’s also not that hard to come up with ideas to entertain younger children. Get creative and have fun together!