Hide and Go Seek

As I got older I found myself playing less and less of simplest enjoyable games. It’s nice to be able to be a kid again when I play with Diana and Alex. We’ve been playing hide and go seek lately. It’s very fun to play this game. Alex usually gives up his hiding spot because he gets excited and laughs when I come close to where he is hiding. They normally hide in the same spot on the top bunk underneath the blanket. You think they would change it up a little? No. I pretend to search for them around the house when I most of the time immediately know where they are. We take turns hiding and seeking. As long as I see a smile on the kids faces I’m happy to play their games.

A break from the little one

After having a horrible day with Alex the day before I was relieved that I got a break from him. He went with his father to work the whole day. It was nice to have a carefree relaxing day with Diana. Diana and I had a wonderful time playing Wii and talking. She asked me to help her with a challenging part of the game The Spiderwick Chronicles. I’m not very good at those kinds of video games but I did help her out in a few parts of the game. She was very excited to beat the level and proceeded to the next one. After playing The Spiderwick Chronicles , we played Wii sports. We played bowling and tennis. I enjoyed my relaxing day of work. It was nice to have a break from the little one.

An Unpleasant Evening

One day last week Alex was so bad that I didn’t know what to do with him. He had a massive tantrum for about fifteen minutes and was acting barbaric. This only happens about once every 2 weeks. I don’t know what it is that triggers this behavior, but whatever it is it drives him to insanity. He was being so bad and I couldn’t wait to leave when his mother arrived. I asked him what was wrong a few times and he replied simply answering, “nothing.” I hate to be a discipliner but I had to take certain steps to calm him down. In my past training I have been told a few simple tactics to calm a child down when he/she is having a tantrum. First, you are supposed to ignore the child’s bad behavior in hopes that he/she will stop. If the child stops, talk to him in a calm manner and discuss his issue, but if the child continues other steps are required. Unfortunately, for me I wasn’t so lucky. Alex starting throwing things, kicking, screaming, punching, and almost broke the DVD player after hitting it with a shoe. He started banging his head and continued his tantrum.

As a babysitter, there are only a select few tactics that I am allowed to use. I decided to hold Alex on my lap and hold him until he stopped. While I was holding him I said be a good boy and calm down. The only way I will let you go is as if you calm down and be good. After putting up an epic battle for about five to ten minutes Alex finally ended. After his tantrum I discussed his behavior with him. He never told me what was wrong with him. I guess he was just in a bad mood. I discussed his tantrum with his mother. She approved of the methods I used to control him and was just as confused as to why he was acting the way he was.