Quite pleased that we managed a walk round to the post office in between the showers. We played I-spy on the way back, my favourite was Big’s something beginning with O – um, orange? Yes! There aren’t any oranges out here…but there’s an orange car, she replied happily!
She did a lot more playing on the computer, the problem with how long she spends on there is when she gets stuck on something. She expects me to drop everything and race to her rescue (not always feasible if my hands happen to be full of Small at the time 😉 ) and if I don’t, she flips straight into full scale meltdown. We had three screaming wobblies before I decreed that that was enough computer time for the day. Today’s game of choice was Adiboo, which seemed complicated to say the least – I couldn’t get it to exit either 🙁 Won’t be any computing time tomorrow, as the desktop got knocked off by a power blip during a thunderstorm and when I turned it back on it seems rather less than healthy. So much for the ups box 🙁 I think I’m going to have to do a rebuild, which means that Big is going to lose all the progress she’s made on the games so far, which I don’t think is going to impress her.
After lunch Sarah and R came round for a while – brought chocolate muffin mix, so Sarah led the baking while I popped Small down for a nap. The two bigger children played pretty well together all afternoon, giving Sarah and I chance to chat about businesses and finances. Then the storm woke Small up and by that time it was pretty much tea time, so I whipped up a pasta and sauce combo with able assistance from Sarah again, and after tea, they didn’t so much make a run for it, as a swim. A lot of rain!
Weird evening – fell asleep with Small earlier and feel all out of sync now. Really not looking forward to having to rebuild the desktop tomorrow. Had another agency call – I’m really hating this. This time the role is Newcastle. I suppose sooner or later something will come through, but I don’t want to have to relocate for three months, which is increasingly what it looks like is going to have to happen.
Anyway, it seems to be the middle of the night again, so I think I’ll clear off. Night all.
Comments
7 responses to “What a lot of rain”
Hmmmmm…. sounds like you need some different games maybe?
One that worked very well for us was the Reader Rabbit Thinking Games for 4-6 year olds – it was very visual and very forgiving and they seemed to be able to work on what they could do happily and flick away from what was too hard.
I’m still a bit strict about some games – if its a hard one they have to agree to try without me or wait till i can sit with them, or they don’t get it! I hate being shrieked at for help constantly!
Yeah, I turned off the xbox this morning because Poppy had been throwing several fits about not being able to do something. (She had breakfast, got dressed, played for a while, then went back to it and did it first time 🙂 )
Generally they get 1 or 2 chances – I *can’t* usually rush and attend to every need, so either they get on with it, play something else or I’ll turn it off if they’re going to keep wailing. They learn ….. 😉
But on the whole, if things are going ok, I don’t like to restrict their time doing stuff – if they’re interested and absorbed, then I reckon they must be getting something out of it. Frustration doesn’t usually start to appear until they are getting a bit tired of concentrating for however long – so I suppose it’s fairly self-limiting, and because those limits vary so much (day to day, child to child, game to game), I wouldn’t want to try imposing my own.
We do have 3 computers (not counting when C is home with the laptop), so so far that’s not an issue 😉 20 minutes on the PS is tough though Caroline, you can hardly get anywhere in your game in that time! (Especially with PS loading times, lol!)
Have to admit that Dragon Tales doesn’t usually result in much agony. But I am identifying that if she sits in front of the tv or the computer too long, we end up with a child that is going to go into meltdown. Now I could let that happen, then pick up the pieces and hope that eventually she figures out how to stop it herself, but that, quite frankly, does my head in! 🙂 So I’m trying to head off some of the agony before it occurs…hm, will continue monitoring the situation.
Couldn’t get reader rabbit to work on my machine – will keep an eye out for it in TKMaxx though (software usually half price or better!)
Oh Alison – could I make a request of Elijah? You know the beautiful bracelet that he made for Big? He wouldn’t fancy making one for Small would he? Only Small loves it, and they keep fighting over it!
On the whole i would say most of the basis for Frtan’s maths ability so far has come from computer games; i wouldn’t limit playing with maths rods or doing worksheets (unless an equal amount of frustration was occurring) so i see the computer as a fairly useful educational tool in that way.
My biggest problem is that Maddy will very happily just sit and watch Fran play; while i daresay she gets something from that, i’m having to make the effort to try and see she gets at least some hands on time. Ammi demands her Pooh game now too – time for a 3rd computer soon i think!!
Mine used to love Adiboo (and youngest son still plays it on occasion). I’m a bit fed up with computer games at the moment as they are generally all my eldest will talk about (which is pretty tedious at the moment) although UKHistory’s programs on Romans have diverted him for a bit.
Elijah looked very bashful when I asked him about the bracelet, but said yes, he will 🙂
Oh good, Small will be pleased!