How do you handle the giggles?

[Tracee]

My kiddos are all really close in age, and they've turned into little wild things. I have two very typical boys and now even my sweet calm little girl is acting just like them....rough housing, and just overall boy silliness.


My 7 year old son is finishing up LHFHG, and the other two are tagging along. They are all enjoying it, but sometimes it just gets crazy with the left side of the guide. When we do the rhymes in motion, they all start laughing and bumping into each other, somebody usually falls down....and then more laughter. Ughhh, it is driving me crazy. At the breakfast table, I like to do our reading about History, but for some reason they usually erupt in laughter and then they all get the giggles. That usually sets the scene for more silliness, because my 5 year old son loves to make people laugh.


Is this just disobedience? I'm just not sure how to handle this. I do love that they enjoy each other and are enjoying LHFHG, but I need control. I'm just not used to this behavior. My kids were pretty calm before.

The only thing I can think to do is to take away privileges. I told them if they break one of the house rules, they get an X, if they get 3 X's no computer or Wii.

How would you handle this?

Thanks,
Tracy

[julieabird]

Hi.

I've read your post several times. I have two children (ages almost 7 and just turned 5). I'm wondering if you could talk to your 7 year old and get his help with this. My 5 year old girl seems to really want to duplicate everything my son does so maybe your 7 year old could demonstrate REALLY appropriate behavior during those fun times and you can praise him in front of the little ones and reward his 'appropriate' behavior. My 5 year old daughter is old enough for me to give her boundaries as they relate to appropriate fun vs. being too silly. I guess if my 5 year old was falling out of her seat, being too loud and getting too wild, I might not let her participate in those activities until she decided that she would adhere to the boundaries I gave her.

At this age, I'm finding that I need to place more importance on their attitudes and behaviors than their work. It is a great time for training on attitude. Attitude is something I am REALLY working on with my 5 year old right now, specifically teaching and training on complying with quick obedience and a good attitude to go with it.

Also - if you know beforehand that a lesson might promote that behavior - talk to them about it right before starting it. I usually talk to my kids right before we do something. If I have to go to the power company and talk to someone about something I will tell my kids BEFORE we get out of the car what they are to do while I wait in line and talk to the people. Just some thoughts as to how I would handle it.

julie

[krismoose]

Tracee,
Boy do I understand! Like Julie said, we talk about expected behavior and consequences right before the "trigger" activity. We also have immediate consequences. I find that delayed consequences are fairly meaningless to my son. We talk a lot about self-control at these times and throughout the day, and we read the Bible verses to them that talk about the merits of self-control, and the bad that comes from lack of control. And we pray for the children in these areas, though we could always do that more. We're not through it yet, but God is faithful, and He gives patience. I read Heb 12 often, as it encourages me to be diligent in how we train our children.

[Kims]

Also for the Rhyme part maybe you could do that last so you don't have to reign them back in. KWIM
I do believe that it's normal but I also think there are expectations and they need to know that and obey. Some kids can't just shut off so quickly though once they get started. It's like at church when my older boys were young some of the men would start roughhousing with them and when the kids didn't shut it off when the adult was done they adult would get mad. Kids just can't stop like that sometimes.
So you may want to maybe set a timer and say ok you can laugh for 5 min (or whatever time you choose). Then count down the mins so they know it's coming. Then when the timer goes off they know they need to stop and have had time to wind down.
I know you want school to be fun and you want them to enjoy it but there has to be a balance.

[my3sons]

Giggling in the middle of a history lesson about pilgrims (or something similar ) that is not meant to elicit laughter would be a sign that dc are not thinking carefully about what is being read. I think I'd stop having your 5 yo dc "tag along", and just teach LHFHG separately to your 7 yo. You can just do LHTH with the 5 yo dc, as this would fit their attention span and maturity level better, and it would also let your 7 yo get the full benefit out of doing LHFHG. I would have the 5 yo dc play something on their own a distance away from you, so your 7 yo has the chance to really focus on learning the needed skills in LHFHG. He will then be fully prepared for Beyond. I know you'd think it would be easier to have the 5 yo dc tag along, but it isn't when they are not ready for all of what a guide is asking them to do. It is so much easier to just know in your mind that LHFHG is for your 7 yo, and LHTH is for your 5 yo dc. Then, when the 5 yo dc have done their 20 -25 minutes of LHTH school and are off giggling while they're playing, you'll just be glad they're giggling, instead of wishing they'd pay better attention and do some of LHFHG. I bet your 7 yo will appreciate being "grown up" in his guide too, and I imagine he will not be silly at all. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie