I really hope I can get through this without her......
Good bye Dora Labrynth Spongebob Magic School Bus Veggie Tales, we will miss you.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
I Fired My Nanny
What would you do if you had a live-in-nanny who allowed you all the free time in the world? Would you fire her if she were too good at her job? Well I did. That's right, I had the world's best nanny and I pulled the plug on her yesterday. Why? Because my son loved her so much that he never wanted to sit and read with me. My daughter loved her so much that she refused to leave her long enough to let me potty train her. She preferred to just pee her pants, while being held in the loving, non-potty-training arms of her cooler-than-mom-will-ever-be nanny. And, frankly, I loved her so much that I was letting her do all the parenting and was beginning to forget my childrens' names. I know I did the right thing... after all I am their mother and I need to be in control around here. Even though I am proud of my decision, I can't help but miss her. Already I'm feeling the loss of all that free time. The kids have begged me to let her come back all morning. My youngest has been in tears, screaming her name. My 5 year old started crying when I told him she was gone. My oldest asked if we could have her back for just a short visit. I hugged them all and said, "I know this will be hard for you for a few days, but soon it will be easy and you will get over her. We have lots of other things to do around here and if we play together, as a family, we can have lots of fun."
I really hope I can get through this without her......
Good bye Dora Labrynth Spongebob Magic School Bus Veggie Tales, we will miss you.
I really hope I can get through this without her......
Good bye Dora Labrynth Spongebob Magic School Bus Veggie Tales, we will miss you.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
19 comments:
I am (still) severely limiting the TV watching at our house too. The kids play so much better together when they haven't been watching, and I don't want all those advertisements & product placements in our home.
Good job! I am desperately trying to control my children's use of electronic games. Today is an electronics free day. They are going stir crazy, but I figure it is good for them :)
Heidi
Good for you to put your foot down and take the tube away. We get one movie (under an hour) a day. My kids know that they don't get it until after lunch and after school is done. Usually they don't fight this and then when I let them watch a full length movie it is a special treat. We don't even watch TV. We don't have cable and just never turn on TV for the kids. They watch DVD's so I have total control over content which is great too.
Kids do get used to not having TV and they will fill their time with other things and develop very good imaginations as a result.
I am so in need of doing this too. Not really much with the older kids, especially the boy, but WOW does the baby need to cut back on TV. It is not even that he sits and watches it constantly but it is constantly on and he seems to need the sound to be happy. I think it's time to pull the plug.
So, good for you on making this change!
Kim @ TheBitterBall
Rock On, Sista! You are the best mom -- making your kids cry because you're doing the right thing, and sticking to your guns, is the best thing ever. I thank my mom every day for making me cry when I didn't want to do what was good for me.
Good for you! I'm wondering if we should do the same with the internet...
All the power to you, girl. Because that is one thing we aren't doing this year.....
Way to go! I've been mulling this over since reading the Ensign this month...
I'm starting tomorrow. It's seems the kids can't do anything without the TV on and the noice gets annoying after a while.
Good for you and your initiative! I'm pretty sure that in a few days they'll find plenty of other things to do - just stick at it!
I don't do so well with this one. I need to limit TV more! We limit video games, but I don't really limit TV like I should.
Great post!
As a relatively new to your blog girl... I was completely lost until you told me her name! Good for you! It makes me think of the pacifier removal- "whining" until the "talking" re-connects!
I find it so hard to limit the TV time when it buys me the time to do other needed things... like teach the other four children!... but I am encouraged to try!
I will be back, so keep the ideas coming!
Better get Mary Poppins.
I don't know if you've seen this but, I'm visiting the blogs of people that posted on my sight and inviting them to sign up for a give-away I am having. No gimicks - just fun. It's my way of celebrating one year of blogging.
http://organizeddoodles.blogspot.com/
Woo hoo! I know you can do this--you are awesome.
Once upon a time I got so sick of the boob tube and our inability to control the amount of time we spent in front of it that I threw it in the garage. It stayed there for 6 or 7 months. Then one day we brought it in for something (can't remember what). Now we just watch movies or ed. videos on Friday nights or special occasions.
There have been two major happy consequences of that impulsive decision to throw away the TV:
1) my kids play really well together and can entertain themselves---most of the time. It took a little while for this to happen, and we go through the same thing over again whenever we spend too much time again with "the nanny" But they have always found their groove after detoxing a few days
2) we save $$ not paying for cable or satellites. And we really don't miss it.
There are other reasons I'm so glad we kicked the habit. Now I need to control the amount of time I spend on the computer. It might be a while before I conquer that one. There is no way my DH would let me throw our computer in the garage! :D
You can do it! : ) Hang in there - it will get better as soon as they remember how fun playing on their own is! My kiddos are limited to one hour a day. Lots of time for that lovely brand of creativity that pushes mommies off into the deep end...
That is a true leap of faith...one I just can't do yet (thankfully my little one doesn't watch too much). Good luck to you!
It is not the TV I have had a big problem with... it is the computer. Yes, my 3 year old can sit in front of NickJr.com, noggin.com, and pbskids.org for hours. Who wants to do one way communications when you can control what they do and say. Although I know this may be good for her computing future, I have had to pull the plug on the computer many a day, and make sure I use it during the times she's not around, then "shutdown" it goes. Congrats for firing your nanny! Now, if I can just fire mine without actually firing her, I'll be all set.
good for you!! hope it's going well with that :)
wow.
that's so twisted.
Post a Comment