Great only children

The thing with my kids is that they would all be wonderful only child children. My oldest was by herself for almost four years so she was used to all the attention being on her and ONLY her. She was the first grandchild and got everything that she wanted as far as love and attention from everyone around her. She could be a hard child at times but it was ok because she was my only at the time and I had all the time in the world to deal with her stubbornness and sleep problems. She still craves attention and does almost anything she can to get it whether it be positive or negative. She was a great only child and at times, even though she does love her brother and sister, I think she still wishes she was an only child.

My son (the middle child) has always been pretty easy. Easy going, laid back, a good sleeper, a pretty good eater depending on the day and plays by himself well. But at times he gets rough and mean with his sisters out of jealousy. So I think that he would be a perfect only child.

My youngest, Ms. Attitude Problem, would be a perfect only child. She takes up so much time and attention because she demands it by throwing fits and screaming all day long. She can be very loving and is the cutest little thing alive but like I always say, God made her cute for a reason! (wink wink) If she doesn't get what she wants when she wants it she will throw herself on the floor, kick, scream, cry and basically loose control until you finally give in and pick her up or give her whatever it is that she wants just so your ears can have a rest. God love her, she better be a wonderful teenager! lol Maybe she is just getting it all out now so that when she's older she will be wonderful! At least I hope that's what she's doing.

I do think sometimes that our girls get a little more irritated, annoyed and jealous because our son has health problems and sometimes needs extra attention because of them. He is only 3 and has already had 7 surgeries. (Nothing majorly serious but nonetheless scary and nerve wrecking.) But my oldest has ADHD and gets extra attention because we have to work extra with her to keep her on task and under control. From working extra with her she has already made progress in school and is almost caught up with the rest of her class, which is surprising seeing as how they wanted to hold her back last year. And the baby, like I said before, gets extra attention because she demands it. So I guess they all get their fare share of attention but I still do think they would all be great as only children.

It is so important that kids get their own special time with their parents. My oldest loves to have mommy and daughter dates. I take her somewhere by herself and we get some dinner together, talk and share funny stories of our week and maybe go window shopping or something. She loves them!!! We have one coming up this weekend.

My son is only in pre-school two times a week so he still gets his own time with me when he is home. Usually after his nap before the baby wakes up we snuggle or read a book together to enjoy our alone time together. And the baby gets her special time with me when the two older ones are at school. We'll sit down, try to read a story even though she only has the attention span to get through the first page or two, play toys and snuggle. It amazes me how great my kids are when they are by themselves. There's almost no acting up or getting in trouble. They're respectful, laid back and really quite enjoyable.

And once a week the kids have something we call "movie night". If you don't do this with your kids I highly recommend that you do. We get some Kid Cuisines and all sit down on blankets with our pillows in our jammies for a living room picnic with a good movie. The kids take turns each week on who gets to pick the movie and really they do pretty good at it. Last week we watched Happy Feet, what a cute movie! So movie nights are pretty cheap, all you have to spend money on is a $2 Kid Cuisine because we just choose a movie that we already have in our house. The kids love it and I usually put the baby down a little before the movie is over so that I can lay on the floor with the kids and have some extra snuggle time before it's over.

Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with kids that have such jealousy issues with their siblings? Or do you have any good ideas on fun, cheap things to do with kids to keep them entertained? I would love to hear some! Thanks!

*Above is a picture from one of our movie nights. It was my yongests' first movie night!*