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[minnie2004]

DD just threw a big tantrum earlier when I asked her to do her homework. She literally went crazy and kept yelling from the top of her lung. You can see the veins on her throat! It's kind of scary and yet strangely funny. She's doing this more and more often nowadays that I really don't know how to tame her anymore. Really wanted to :spank: The worst part is, the usually-mellow little brother is starting to copy her. I called DH, tried to let him experience the whole episode. I asked him to talk to DD but of course DD wouldn't get close to the phone. I told my DH to switch with me and let me go back to work :frustrated:


Am I asking too much of DD? If I leave her alone to play she's perfectly fine. But once I ask her to sit down and do some homework, it's like a battle. I'm really running out of ideas/tricks

[jedamum]

minne2004,

what homework is that? sch work?
are there anyone sitting with her when she does her work?
do you have a reward system or such?
has she always been like that?
is there a fixed time/schedule for homework?

[minnie2004]

Indeed, I was too busy dealing with my 2 kids. Last nite, DS bit DD again during a fight. DH was so angry he locked him up in the bedroom and DS himself to sleep.


Back to my DD's tantrum. I asked her to do some written homework given by her piano teacher. She's still in K2 so school homework is very minimal. The other homework she resents is the abacus.

I do have a reward system. I print out a chart of \"to do list\" every week for both kids. Whenever they finish 1 item, they can put a sticker on it. However, after the novelty is gone, she doesn't care about it too much anymore. I also seduce her with snacks from time to time and design some games to make homework more fun. But after a while, I'm running out of ideas. So I started yelling and she started yelling back and the drama continues. I guess I should keep my cool too.

[sleepy]

minnie2004:

Back to my DD's tantrum. I asked her to do some written homework given by her piano teacher. She's still in K2 so school homework is very minimal. The other homework she resents is the abacus.

Our girls are same age

I've withdrawn my dd from abacus few months ago. She showed resistance too. I feel that it is very hard to push. If I scold her over abacus, I think she would feel even more resistance. So I simply stop her classes after some discussion with her and let her have a break the meantime. Or you can consider switching to another Maths programme?

As for piano, I must remind my dd to practice. She's quite lax these 2 months. After reminding her a few times, I get irriated too. Told her it's alright if she doesn't practice automatically, daddy says we can always sell the piano to buy an omega watch for himself. She started crying whenever we say we want to trade in her precious piano

I don't have a reward system. Usually I 软硬兼施. 软 is keep praising her whenever she makes some small progress. 硬 is to inform her of the consequences or alternatives eg. sell away piano. But 硬 can only use sparingly, at most 5% of the times otherwise lose effect

[minnie2004]

Hi sleepy,


Seems kids of our DD's age are more or less learning the same things. Your selling piano trick is a pretty good one. I also had problem getting DD to practice piano before but it's better after DS started to learn piano too. So whenever I want her to play, I'll just ask aloud \"who wants to play piano?\", and they will both go \"me me\" . Of course the downside is they might end up fighting for who gets to play the piano first.

As for abacus, as it gets harder and harder DD is losing some interest. She did Kumon math before but it was even more difficult to force her to do the homework so we dropped that. Don't know what else is there. :?

[sleepy]

minnie2004:

As for abacus, as it gets harder and harder DD is losing some interest. She did Kumon math before but it was even more difficult to force her to do the homework so we dropped that. Don't know what else is there. :?

What enrichments is your girl attending?
I heard good review about MPM. Don't have direct experience with MPM though.

Mine not attending any academic enrichments. Stopped everything last year. Only left piano and arts. She's not keen in academic enrichments and claimed that she is happier staying home with me. Oh, alright then, help mommy to save money and travelling time
Besides making trips to the library, I coach her in all subjects.

Alternatively, you can coach her at home? Moderate her homework intensity. Maybe just do a couple of questions a day & spread out over the afternoon. About time to prep for P1. Check out the assessment books in popular to get some ideas

[minnie2004]

Hi sleepy,

Other than piano and abacus, she also has speech & drama, swimming, taekwondo, and art classes. My mom always says that's too much but we just want her to try different things and see what she likes. I always tell DD if she doesn't like any of the classes I'll pull her out. She ends up enjoying all of them, except for ballet as she didn't like the tight top

She used to go to Eduplus for Chinese but I don't see much improvement in terms of reading so I'm teaching her at home now. But I'm not a patient person and she's also not the quiet and obedient type so it's not an easy task at all.

Your girl is very sweet, rather stay at home with you :love: Is it easy for you to coach her? You're right it's time to prepare for P1 now. I'd better go check out some assessment books.

[sleepy]

minnie2004:

Hi sleepy,

Other than piano and abacus, she also has speech & drama, swimming, taekwondo, and art classes. My mom always says that's too much but we just want her to try different things and see what she likes.

I feel the same way too, to expose the child to as many activities as possible to identify her strengths in order to nurture her in that particular area.

My dd tried a number of enrichments when she was younger, such as gymnastics, ballet, phonics, Chinese, abacus. Didn't identify any talents or interests in those areas so only left with piano and arts at this moment

She probably won't have time to attend so many activities when she starts primary school so I thought it's alright to wind down

minnie2004:

Is it easy for you to coach her? You're right it's time to prepare for P1 now. I'd better go check out some assessment books.

She's slightly easier to manage than her elder sister. My elder girl is the tantrum queen so I can totally empathise with you :lol: I have to thread carefully around her highness

I feel confident to take over the coaching once she reaches the stage where she can read and is familar with addition/subtraction/multiplication. Before that stage, I need external help since I'm pretty clueless about phonics or how to teach pre-school Maths

[buds]

minnie2004:

I also had problem getting DD to practice piano before but it's better after DS started to learn piano too. So whenever I want her to play, I'll just ask aloud \"who wants to play piano?\", and they will both go \"me me\" . Of course the downside is they might end up fighting for who gets to play the piano first.

Both my DDs (DD1 on violin & DD2 on piano) are usually self motivated.
As in... both will simply go practice without being asked. :love:

There will be those 'off' days where they may want to slack but only either
cause they're not feeling well... tired out from school + homework or want
to catch up on their favourite TV shows.. :politebleah:

Reverse psychology does work for positive results sometimes, especially
when the children are younger and can still be swayed by our words..
Won't work on older kiddies though.. they're able to realize they're trying
to be swayed by our reverse doing.. :lol: :slapshead:

Our (mine + hubs) reverse psychology still works to our advantage... :evil:

minnie2004:

As for abacus, as it gets harder and harder DD is losing some interest. She did Kumon math before but it was even more difficult to force her to do the homework so we dropped that. Don't know what else is there. :?

Got. FUN @ buds house.

But haven't cut ribbon yet. :lol:

Haven't official opening... hehee..

[minnie2004]

Hi buds,

You're so lucky to have 2 self-motivated DDs. I hope mine will get better when she's a bit older.

So you're starting your own enrichment center? That's great! I believe it would be fun Please keep me posted on your grand opening