The pressure of kids

Hi there Kena!

My son is six years old and we haven't reach that period yet. I am thankful because I am not yet ready for that. Well, I guess not much people are prepared for that but that's just how it goes. It just makes me think of the time when I felt the same. I don't have any idea yet on how to handle that kind of situation so I will also be checking this discussion for suggestions from time to time.

I do chores with my 7 yr old son. But the hardest thing I'm having problems with is reading (although I don't think it matter which problem you have maybe this will be another option for you).

I want him to read just 15 min. per day. He's not been doing it and this week I don't have a lot going on so...if he wants to continue to play baseball or go swimming he's got to start reading everyday. Baseball is a huge thing to him and swimming will be too as soon as it warms up enough to be able to go everyday. He's a very social person so I can use some of these things to my advantage.

I do keep a chore chart and he puts stickers on it and I decide what kind of "commission" he gets at the end of the week. I don't assign specific prices for specific chores, because if he's stomping around the house in a bad mood doing chores, that's not the right behavior and I'm not rewarding that.

I know Dr. Kevin Leman has some really good books about parenting, those are on my list to read. Hopefully you'll get something figured out soon. Good Luck!

i think most kids have this kind of problem, my is 8 years old and she do things depend on her mood, just like this afternoon, she volunteer to wash the plate after having her lunch, but when dinner, she left her plate on the table and tell me she is too tire

My daughter will be nine in September, and she does the same thing. I told her if she didn't take her dirty clothes to the laundry room that I guess she would just have to start wearing dirty clothes. Then I asked her if she thought her friends would think that was cool. I also tell her we all have things that we have to do that isn't always fun but they have to be done so we can do things that are fun. I tell her if she doesn't have clean clothes and if her room isn't clean she can't go anywhere or do anything. It's getting a little better but we are still working on it somedays are better than others. I guess it is just the begining of them growing up.