Depends on the kids. My slightly OCD eldest was born matching, and it drives her nuts when younger siblings don't have the same er...."taste". I don't care too much for around the house, but when we go someplace I do insist on looking alright. (I think DD#2 age 8 mismatches just to irritate her older sister. She is SOOOO passive aggressive)

Please do. I need some help. Since we are home so much the house is most of the time a disaster; it gets so overwhelming sometimes! I never feel like doing anything fun because there is so much that NEEDS to be done.

Have they been brainwashed by the Teacher's unions? Are they under the opinion that it is much harder than it really is? I will say it is not always easy, but it is easier than I thought it would be. The hard part is not necessarily the "school" part; its the personality stuff...getting along with everyone, keeping people on track, getting the chores dones .etc. So why do many think that they can't? Or are they just copping out and making an excuse?

I am Curious about the division of labor in some other homes. I am having trouble delegating and then following through when I do delegate. My house is a pretty unorganized mess right now. I need help. My kids are 12, 8, 5, 2 years

I am so sorry that you are dealing with this. My dd is 12 and her 10-11 year was awful. But then when she started having normal cycles life got suddenly better. She's only cranky 4 days of the month now, instead of every day. The week before she had her first was the worst week of my life. For an entire week she was either screaming or crying. I thought I was the worst mother in the world. Then IT happened and life got better. I had to wake up every morning and talk to myself. "It will be ok. I will not lose it when she does. When she does ___ I will not ____". Hang in there!

Nope. Oldest is a girl. She has gotten so much better since starting her monthly cycles. At least she's only cranky four days of the month, not everyday! The week before she started the first time WAS THE WORST WEEK OF MY LIFE! I wanted to turn myself in before I shot someone. She was either screaming at someone or crying the WHOLE WEEK! I thought I was the worst mother in the world. Then IT started and our lives have all gotten much better.:)

two words : ELECTRIC FENCE!

I used to think it would have been toddler hood, but age 10-11 was awful here with my oldest.

YES! Have a VERY strong willed oldest dd, 12. During the years from ages 2-5 it was so hard. Here recently it was around year 11 that things were bad again. This second period got so much better when she started having normal female cycles. I would wake up every morning and tell myself. "It will be ok. When she pushes me, I will not lose my temper. When she does ___ I will not ____. I will enforce the consequences that we have in place calmly." We put the behavior ball in her court. She knew what the rules were and what would happen if she didn't follow them. It helped my family to have rules written out and stick to a routine. Writing things out helped us avoid the great debate of what I said, what she thought I meant, blah blah blah.....When we got the behavior under control we were able to do fun stuff again and enjoy it. For awhile, we avoided doing fun stuff because she made us just as miserable during the fun times as she would normally. I don't know if any of this helps you or not; don't know whether we did the right things or not; just know that I have been there and it does get better.

Cats are usually fine outdoors unless it is excessively cold. Even then if they have a warm dry place to snuggle they can manage. Probably want to get it fixed, unless you like kittens (if it is female) and males will mark (pee on) their territories, when they are not neutered. Just have your kids wash their hands and they will probably be fine. My allergic kids are fine.

4 kids here with sparing use of pain relievers. Yet one of my children almost ALWAYS comes down with secondary infections after colds/viruses etc. Don't know what it is about him but bronchitis and ear infections are pretty common with him. DD #3 went through a period of an ear infection every 8 weeks, then right as we were about to do tubes, no more infections. My point is, each child is different. Some are susceptible to different things. I give my kids meds when they cannot rest. Also with my youngest two when their fever is high, they don't want to drink anything. So that is scary.

Whenever my kids wear their shoes w/out socks, the shoes end up stinky really fast. We end up putting desenex powder or something similar in there to kill the funk. And I make them wear socks, when I remember. Also you can put the shoes outside in the sunlight and that helps some too, if you are in an area that gets sun right now.

Sandbox would have to go. Probably every cat in the neighborhood has used it for a toilet.

If my kids had free access to the kitchen I'd be totally broke. They would eat it all in 2 days. And I have to step in for fairness because one child would scarf all the grapes and no one else would get any. Again for meal-time sake I do limit the snack because they would not eat real meals. They would NEVER be able to feel hungry becuase they would eat whenever they were bored etc. Some people may not allow snacks because of the timing of their meals. Down here in the south some people eat supper at 4:30. So there is not really a need for an afternoon snack. And their meals can be pretty huge. Some families cook 3 meals a day. If my kids at bacon, eggs and biscuits for breakfast. they probably won't need a morning snack like they do on the days we eat cereal. If we eat leftover supper food for lunch they don't need much of an afternoon snack like they do on the days we eat sandwiches. So that might be the way it works out.

Another thing my kids loved was a game called silly sentences that we made up. We put index cards out with various parts of speech on them and rearranged the words to make funny sentences. This kind of loosened them up telling them it was ok to do stuff crazy.

Read about Square foot gardening. it is a pretty simple method for gardening.

Lots of time my oldest dd who is a perfectionist is afraid that she will get something wrong so she is afraid to try anything. I made sure she knew that there was no wrong answer. DD8 sometimes has the same problem so on free writing type stuff, I only read it, never give a grade for it, mark spelling errors, or anything like that. Possibly too at 7 yrs old she feels limited by the words she knows how to spell. Start with you own writing prompts too. For instance, If in the past she has asked for a horse, ask her to describe the kind of horse she would like, what she would name it, the places they would ride together. Sometimes the text book writing prompts do not appeal to my kids so I change them to something they are interested in. So if Jack and the Beanstalk seems dull to her, let her finish another story, one she likes or one about princesses or something that appeals to her.

Me too! Hellooooooo out there?????

Again I am reminded of how blessed I am to have a family doctor who has told me on more than one occasion "YOU ARE THE EXPERT ON YOUR CHILDREN!"

Tattling many times at my house is trying to stir up trouble. It is being a busy body and sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. I do encourage my kids to come tell me if there is danger (or property damage). We really bragged on dd age 4 when little brother went into the cattle pen (in a moment of parental inattention) and she IMMEDIATELY came to get mom and dad. We told her she "saved his life". (which actually could have been a true statement) But when they just tell on each other to stir up trouble and make themselves look better that is when they get a verbal reprimand. I don't generally punish them unless it has become an incessant habit.

I can sort of handle the "side hug". Where someone basically puts their hand on your shoulders and squeezes. That is one way I fend off the huggers.

go for 3 or 4 days. He probably just is anticipating being lonely for his family and wants to share this experience with you!

WHAT??????!!!!!!!:ack2:

we found an "animal birth control clinic" in our area. There are many low cost spay/neuter programs. This one was staffed partly by veterinary students, so they were VERY careful. It was less than $50 per animal and we've taken probably half a dozen animals. Never had a problem and the place was SO CLEAN!

the risk could be higher for you because of all the previous pregnancies. Your labor is going to be much shorter than many others, giving the dr. less time to prepare for emergencies. And I see that Rh stuff gets a 3 also.