Like most parents there are times when I tend to get frustrated and lose my patience with the kids. For me those times are usually bed time and loading up in the car. They inevitably choose these times to tell me about everything and anything in the world rather than what I asked thus trying my patience. I have finally found a way to help everyone though. Counting to 5 wasn't working in these instances. I had the idea to give them the time of a song so I told them they needed to be in the car and buckled by the time I finished Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. For whatever reason this song idea works so much better for them. No yelling or coercing on my part. I typically choose primary songs, mainly because it gets me in the right frame of mind. Rather than give in to frustration and yelling, I take a step back and sing one verse of a primary song. By the time I'm done the kids are listening and I've given myself some time to calm down.
One of my favorite things about homeschool (ok I know there are a lot) is that I can do field trips with the kids whenever I decide and give them real world experiences. Our first field trip this year was to comic-con. Spence was speaking on a panel about adapting books to film and it was great to let the kids be a part of his work day. Spence was nervous because of the crowds, but I assured him I'd keep Logan in my arms and the kids holding hands. No mishaps whatsoever. We had a blast! The kids were so excited to see all the booths, characters, and activities. Smaug at the WETA booth and the awesome Lego group were huge hits with the kids as well as Elsa singing in the Kid-con section. Lizzie had a tea party with Cinderella. Daniel played with swords and of course had to join Lizzie for the tea party. After watching the Cinderella play in June I'm pretty sure he has a crush on Cinderella. Logan loved all things Star Wars, that is until R2D2 started making noises. Then he had second thoughts. I warned the kids that if they saw something they wanted to look at they couldn't run off. They had to pull on my hand (since it's loud) and let me know. Well on our way to the WETA section I felt a huge yank on my whole harm. Apparently Daniel got his first sight of old/vintage comic books. We headed over to the booth and Lizzie and I watched as Daniel pored over comic after comic. He had this look of reverential awe as he touched each one. There were a couple of people who would treat Daniel, Logan, and Lizzie like their characters. The boys were both Batman and Lizzie was Elsa. One person in particular totally made their day asking for a picture with the beautiful Queen Elsa and the brave Batman. As I was getting ready to leave Lizzie kept begging to stay, but Spence had panels to visit so we trekked back to the car. By the time we got there all the kids just wanted to go back. Since then they've asked multiple times when they get to go back where the people dress up. Spencer's panel went great and the book trailer looked awesome. I'll post a link when it goes live on the internet. I made a huge haul at the ABC booth. We got a Once Upon a Time journal, Castle poster, The Flash poster, multiple tattoos, and a Once Upon a Time bookmark. So many cool things, but so little time. I could have easily spent every day there and not get bored. Pretty sure the kids could have too. Hopefully Spence gets to do a panel every year, which looks quite possible, so we can all get in free.
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