Break for the Holidays...Help

[MeMegrand]

What's a main challenge during the long holiday breaks? My 4-yr old grandson will be out of school for two weeks and just the thought of him waking up early, being loud and running around the house all day is something I had to prepare for mentally.

[STEM_Dad]

When my kids were that young, my strategy was to tell them ahead of time: "If you wake up early, you may play quietly on bed with your stuffies (stuffed animals), or you may read a book in bed. I will let you know when it's time to get up."

Before I married my wife (now ex-wife), she had used that strategy with our eldest (my stepdaughter) when she was young, and it seemed to work well.

My two sons (the middle children) each did a relatively good job not making a mess when they did do. Sometimes they might get bored and get out of bed.

Yes, they sometimes made noise, but the boys were both very good about following the expectations that were set for them.

My youngest daughter would sometimes forget that she was supposed to play in bed, and she would get up and make a mess getting out a bunch of toys. She was also the kid who would be most likely to leave her room, instead of staying there as I had told her to do. ~ She was usually quiet as a mouse... which could mean that she was following the rules, or she was making a mess in the kitchen or elsewhere. She has always liked to do things for herself.

(The kids had permission to use the bathroom, of course. And they have always had open permission to wake me for anything important.)

[MeMegrand in reply to STEM_Dad]

Does this work with a 4 yr old? Because unless its the tablet (which I don't want to give him) its not a lot that will keep him occupied that early in the morning.

[STEM_Dad in reply to MeMegrand]

Well, my older kids are 30 and 21, so there weren't any tablets around when they were each 4 years old.

My younger kids are now 11 and soon-to-be 9. Their mom had a tablet when they were that young. I think my youngest had a tablet when she was 4 or 5. The kids had to ask their mom for their tablets, and they were allowed about 2 hours per day (pre-COVID pandemic...more like 4-5 hours during the pandemic).

So, I don't have a great solution, other than to make the expectation that kiddo doesn't get the tablet when they first wake up...they have to play with toys or read books.

I'm admit that since my divorce, I've been spoiling my kids, and so now it's hard to pull back all the excess electronics time that I've been allowing them.

[kdali]

Ours will be physical activity, as it is cold and dreary now. We trained ours to play quietly in their rooms if they were up early, but are free to go downstairs to eat or play. I leave things they will want out, with a low mess potential.

[MeMegrand in reply to kdali]

I like that leaving things out with low mess potential. LOL

[kdali in reply to MeMegrand]

Lately winners for the 4yr old are magnatiles (I accidentally bought the generic ones and they do not have strong magnets which means everything they try to build falls immediately and lots of crying, beware), paint by sticker books (needs to have fine motor skills to be independent), decorating a felt tree/mat, easy puzzles, coloring a giant box or coloring pages (must be responsible with crayons), Duplos or legos, and of course tablet or TV when earned. Cereal or something similar in a sandwich baggie and drink in a sippy cup makes less mess. I rotate items, and set them up to look cute so they are more inviting in the morning. This doesn't always work, but sometimes I get to sleep until 7am.

[anirush]

Lack of routine. Mine got crazier with too much free time. Try to schedule things to do around the house even if it is helping you clean. Look up free activities you can go to during the holidays.

Good luck.

[MeMegrand in reply to anirush]

Great idea and thanks for the suggestion!

[Imakecutebabies]

Need for constant stimulation.Get out of the house every morning and go somewhere before he goes crazy.

[MeMegrand in reply to Imakecutebabies]

Great suggestion and thanks so much!

[arrh121]

We look for activities locally to help break up the day, it's very common for there to be mini-camps during holiday breaks that might be appropriate even for a 4 year old. Around here, there are options for sports, science, and other things.

[BlueStripedMama]

Maybe if there is at least one activity each day to occupy him, that will help? It could be a baking project, a trip to the children's museum, a trip to the beach/forest, some play time with a nearby friend. Also, around the holidays, I always tried to find themed things to pick up at the dollar store that could translate into long fun (e.g., we saved a big cardboard box, turned it into a rocket ship and had him decorate the rocket ship with xmas stickers and old bows and ribbons). Also, in the morning when my kids were littler, I made them a "morning box" of activities they could ONLY do in the morning before we woke up. It became quite special because there were really fun things in there and the box got put away after we woke up. Puffy stickers, special markers, an etch-a-sketch, a lightboard with those pegs that go in, etc. It doesn't work for everyone and it definitely took training to get there, but eventually it worked well!