(My kids are the first children/babies I have handled as I have
no baby sister/brother. But we try very hard to handle everything on our own
without our parents. My husband thinks we are egoistic.......but they are
our kids. Betul, salah kita tanggung. Semoga Allah bantu.)
Survive???Cope?????
Sanity is history for me.
Half the time I am screaming at the kids. Or crying becoz they just do the
complete opposite. It's just been a psychological roller coaster for the
past 5 years.
Okay.....I have no maid. So the house looks like there is no maid but a
tired, cranky mom. My hubby is a dear. He helps a lot with the housework and
child care.He understood that if I got too tired, the currently
breastfeeding kid would have less milk. And the rest would be reprimanded
for everything. But you always feel guilty about staying home the whole day
and still burdening him with housework or 3 screaming, demanding kids. So
recently I took a once a week maid to clean the house. It was a gift of life
( for that half day she was around).
When I do work at my family's shop ( I do Marketing & PR for Sri Munawwarah
Design), I take the kids to the shops with me. I used to take all the kids,
or at least the breastfeeding one to fashion show practices. We would appear
at the hotel hall with a double pram and another one with food and toys and
colouring books. The models would take turns baby sitting. Crazy woman
kan???? I suppose I have that added advantage (Alhamdullillah) of working
with my family.Lately, we employed a day-help to baby sit the kids at the
shop so that I can do all my running around. But since things got a bit busy
at the shop and we have not enuff staff, she is now helping out in the shop.
And I am back with the kids at home.
This is long, isn't it.
Anyway. Coping is no joke. Especially since I was never cut out for
housework anyway. With one kid, i used to go out to the malls or visit
friends bila tension. But with 3, that is suicide.
The kids differ in interest. Syafiqa is very bookish. so , from age 18
months, she was into colouring and reading picture books.I used to download
all the print centres from disney.com which saved on buying colouring books.
Now she can read (age 4 and half) English, BM and Jawi. so she reads to
herself and her sisters. That helps me a bit.
Ameera (3 years) is very moody. Nothing can attract her attention, except
Disney videos. So she will watch all the Disney classics. To distract her
from so much TV, I get books and colouring books and toys which correlate
with the story. ( EG, Toy Story action figures, Ladybird Books on Toy story
and Toy Story colouring books.) I used the same method on Syafiqa. It keeps
them occupied, but we have to guide them comprehensively.
Aisha just runs around and asks for milk. And climb the chairs. And goes
through the drawers. And pulls out all the ironing i have done.
I also find that if I play teacher and ask them to do the same thing all at
the same time they are quite happy for at least half-an-hour. Then they
fight.
I look to books for a lot of support. Islamic books usualy make mothers seem
like angels. If angels can scream at the top of their voices. So I also read
all the Mat Salleh stuff which is more humane and then correlate them with
Islamic principles.
I recommend The Girlfriend's Guide to Toddlers by Vicki Iovine. I think my
husband got it from Amazon.com.
How can I write so much?????Well, Syafiqa has gone to tadika. Ameera
insisted on following. And the Teletubbies is on the computer ( Aisha is not
watching but she likes to listen to the sounds). Bliss....
Oh yes...you know my goal in life? To get all 3 to have their afternoon at
the same time.
Bye for now...
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