A new book has been lingering in my desk for a few weeks. It's called The Three Day Nanny by Kathryn Mewes (a Norland Nanny for 16 years who now runs The Bespoke Nanny, a parenting trouble-shooting service). It came to my attention again today for two reasons - her series on Channel Four starts tomorrow and, having read the TV review that's going into Metro tomorrow about it and seeing the trailer, it made me think I should watch it. Monty is being a very cheeky boy at the moment - he's running off when we're out and about, not listening, hitting and biting Minnie, not eating very well and generally being quite wild.
This was highlighted when we were in the check-in queue at Porto airport and a family with two small children (they looked about the same age as ours and were a boy and a girl also) in front of us were standing sedately while Minnie and Monty chased around, refusing to stand still, bumping into people and generally not listening to our pleas (read shouts) for them to stand still and be quiet and calm. My jaw dropped when I heard the lady saying to her two, 'ok, you're being so good, you can have five raisins and, let's go crazy, two cherries each' as she dished out dried fruit. It was impressive.
So I had a flip through the Three Day Nanny book on my way home tonight. The first case study in chapter 5 rang true - a lady who had to get two children up and dressed, breakfast eaten, teeth brushed, school bags ready and out the door by 8am. It was such a struggle that she often shouted and felt guilty. Here's Kathryn's advice in a nutshell:
An incentive jar that can be filled up with a piece of pasta or a marble every time the children do something as soon as you ask, without you needing to shout. When the jar is full you get a family treat.
A Get Dressed Stencil - get a big piece of paper and get your child to lay down on it and draw around their body. Lay this on their bedroom floor and lay their clothes for the next day out on it. They are to put these on before they come downstairs - for a marble. Fun idea, but not sure we have enough floor space in Minnie and Monty's shared bedroom.
Get a timer, once breakfast is done set it for five minutes and say (using eye contact and a calm, firm 'teacher tone') 'when the pinger goes it's time to put your shoes on.'
Apparently this all worked like a dream.I think I need to get some marbles!
The Three Day Nanny by Kathryn Mewes, published by Vermilion £12.99