The Top Five Reasons Why My Preschooler Gets Mad

I know I said I was going to do a post weekly  but something happened today and I felt compelled to write on it:

Layla is in preschool 4 days a week, from 12 to 3:30 and each day we have a routine when we arrive.  First, she has to try to go to the bathroom and always wash her hands.  Second, there is a daily question posted outside the classroom that she must answer.  Well ever since Miss Thing turned 4, she’s been wanting to write her answer in the number 4 spot.  And usually we get there early enough for her to do so.  I ask her to try to go in order but I figure, its one less battle so I just let her write in the number 4 spot.  However, today we were a bit late and one of her friends had already written in that spot.  Let. Me. Tell. You…. she was not having it.  AT ALL.  She proceeded to try to protest writing her answer at all, promptly sitting down in a chair and folding her arms.  And when Layla has decided she doesn’t want to do something, it is extremely difficult to try and make her, especially when you are sweating from the extreme Hawaii humidity and trying to console a 6 month old in her carseat who is beginning to sound hungry.  She actually ended up having to write at the number 8 spot and I simply explained that 4 doubled is 8… which I guess consoled her a bit because she proceeded to answer the question.  She still was pissed off tho…

So in response to this little episode, and others that have happened this past week… I present to you the top five reasons why my preschooler (and kindergartner) get mad.

1.  Hearing the word “No”:  This is the biggest reason by far.  My children do not like hearing no… whether is it because they can’t play with their toys 5 minutes before going to school in the morning or being told “no dessert” after he or she refused to eat any dinner.  To them hearing “no” is like someone taking away their favorite toy and them promptly running over it with a 4×4…its cause for screaming tantrums that can go on for, at times, 5 minutes or more.

2. Taking a shower:  No, my kids are not smelly.  They just prefer to take long, extended baths, in dirty water, for hours if we’d let them.  Let us say that either one of them are getting showers, they both freak out…. and you’d think they were afraid of the water by the way they react to the shower head when the water comes on.  Don’t let the tears and scared face fool you.  These crazies love the pool and the splash park, often dunking their entire head in the water with a huge grin on their face.  You don’t fool me, kids.  I’ve seen you!

3.  When “Paw Patrol” goes off:  Or Blaze, or Dora, or Avengers, or any other of those annoying shows…You’d think they’ll never ever be able to see those things ever ever again.  Even after telling them, we have on demand, we have vcr, it’s a rerun, you’ve seen this episode before…  its always the same reaction…I’m almost tempted to just cancel cable all together and let them only watch good old PBS… Sesame Street is hilarious, yall!  But then there’s football season and Norman…

4.  Changing their clothes:  Don’t get me wrong, I love how independent my children are getting and while my daughter is more conscientious on how an outfit matches, my son could really give two shits.  “For the 100th time this freaking month, I’m going to wear this glow in the dark dinosaur tee shirt that is way tooo small for me and I think I’ll wear these sweat pants in like 90 degree weather and come up to my shins.  There I’m ready to rock and roll…”  Only one problem kiddo… you have school today you are not going out like that making us look like we don’t even look at you before leaving the house.  And when those infamous words come out my mouth- change your clothes, go put on some socks, you can’t wear flip flops to school… I get the pleasure of listening to him fall out like someone done died on him.  Good Lord!  I’m sorry I don’t want you looking like a bum when we have plans.  You guys, I literally just got rid of a bunch of clothes while he was at school that were way to small for him!  Shhh don’t tell him, ok?

5. Limit screen time….ALL OF IT:  Like most parents I know, I am concerned about the amount of screen time my kids have.  I’m really old fashioned wherein I prefer my kids to be reading a real live book as opposed to being stuck in a IPAD or Kindle.  And as of late, my kids have been watching alot of time or playing on the computer.  And I can’t blame anyone but myself, for it was easier to have them do something on the Kindle while I was doing school work, especially when Norman was off training.  Now, I’m paying for it because the minute I say turn off the TV, they think its time to just move onto the computer or go grab my Kindle (without asking… every damn time ugh).  And let me take that way?  Let me tell you, it’s like WWII up in here.  Everything from falling out to the highest pitched screams you’ll ever hear.  It’s concerning because I don’t want them thinking they can get what they want just by acting like that…. Not in here… not in here.  And as much as I talked crap about “redirection” it has become my saving grace so that I don’t get angry.

Of course, these are not the only things that piss off my older kids.  There are alot of random things that don’t sit well with them.  But they will get over it and if they don’t, oh well that’s life.

What other crazy things make your kids all pissy?