If you give them water, they will pee

Sometimes you have to be smarter than the little people.  I know it's hard when our brains are tired, but you really can do it.  Outsmart that little stinker.  Yesterday my kids made a disaster of the living room. There were toys EVERYWHERE.  I'm a little bit type-A so having a messy house is the hardest part of having kids for me.  I told them to clean up and they started complaining (which didn't fly).  Then I told them I was counting to twenty and wanted them to clean up as much as possible in that time.  I started counting and wahlah!  Little bodies scurrying to get toys into buckets.  I was so impressed with myself.  If you make things like cleaning into a game you're likely to have better results.  One friend has her sons race to see who can get their pajamas on faster.  Genius!  I have a pokey kid but she's super competitive so making things into a race is the one thing that gets her moving.  Another friend has her son say "bye" to the toys when they leave the store.  Helps prevent a leaving fit.  My husband is a pro at distracting our kids with questions.  They could be in mid-fit and he calmly asks them about something totally unrelated and they immediately switch gears and go into great detail to answer him.  It's lucky for us that our biggest fit thrower is easily distractable.

My two year old is a stinker at meal times.  I finally figured out that she doesn't want to get her fingers dirty.  She'll let me feed her or she'll do it if she's got certain silverware but she'll throw the mother of all fits to prevent getting her little fingers dirty.  It shouldn't have taken me as long as it did to realize what her deal was.  Sometimes we get so busy "doing" and forget to think.  At least I do.  But, I thought through it and now I know.  Now I'm usually prepared to out think her at meal times.  I've got silverware.  I ask her questions in mid-fit, or I break into song really loudly.  I can be louder than she can.  If my kids see that their fit makes me sing, (and sing loudly) that stops them too.

I used to always let my kids sleep with water.  It took forever for one of them to stay dry at night and hmmm.... ya think the two things were related?  If you give them water, they will pee.  (That also works for potty training.  If you want them to pee - give them tons to drink.)  So, the point of this little blog post is to think.  You can do it - go outsmart those little stinkers!  And then share it with your mom friends so they can do it too!