Every day

Every day I have to pack a change of clothes in the little guy's backpack. Every day he wets his pants, and his change of clothes. Every. Single. Day. Sometimes he goes through three pairs of pants.

What is going on? He's almost 5 years old for crying out loud. I know that it's not a medical problem, since he never wets the bed. And there have been times when he's gone several weeks without having a single accident.

I have two theories. One: he's doing it for attention. Two: He waits too long to go to the bathroom because he's too busy playing. Or, maybe it's a combination of the two.

Yesterday, he wet his pants at daycare and didn't say a word all day. His pants were made out of a thicker material so no one would have been able to tell. "Why didn't you tell someone?" I asked. He shrugged his shoulders. I think he was embarrassed. So he sat in wet pants for four hours! That couldn't have been much fun.

So what can we do other than to encourage him to "listen to his body" and run to the toilet before it's too late? We've tried everything else.

I'm sick of dealing with toilet training issues. I'm sick of taking two steps back every time we move one step forward. And most of all, I'm sick of all the laundry this problem is generating!

No wonder childhood obesity rates are on the rise

So, the little guy started senior kindergarten last week. Instead of each kid bringing a snack they will be having a"communal snack," aimed at teaching the kids about sharing etc... In principle, I support the idea. And from a practical standpoint it's great that I only need to provide a snack once a month instead of every day. But the reality is (and I speak from experience) that most parents make bad snack choices.

When the little guy was in nursery school there was also a communal snack. Virtually every day, he was fed a big pile of sodium-packed goldfish crackers. If it was once in a while, I wouldn't care but every day? Hubby did a a little research on goldfish crackers the other day and discovered that Dorito chips actually have more nutritional value. Even though parents would also send some cut up fruit, a lot of the kids would only eat the goldfish. It's all about the goldfish when you are a toddler.

On the first two days of school the little guy came home reporting that they had goldfish crackers for snack (surprise, surprise). Hubby and I thought, "Oh great, here we go again." Instead of sitting back idly, we spoke up immediately and suggested that parents be provided with some "snack guidelines." The teacher thought it was a great idea, and put us in charge of the project. I've happily taken on the task and am preparing a hand-out for parents that includes some simple, fun, and wholesome snack ideas. I also plan to include information on "snacks to avoid", how to read nutrition labels, avoiding overly processed foods etc... I'm hoping that other parents take the advice to heart.

Nutrition is only half the problem. The other half is that kids don't have enough opportunities to run and jump at school. The little guy only gets gym for 20 minutes, twice week. How pathetic is that??? Thankfully, he goes to nursery school after school and plays outside for a full hour before his caregiver picks him up. We also take him to the park every day to play on our way home. And in the fall, winter and early spring he is enrolled in sports programs a couple of times a week. The onus really is on parents to make sure that their kids are fit, because our schools are really letting us down.

Thoughts?

Boot Camp

So we were having a picnic at the park tonight when a group of ladies showed up for their Boot Camp class. The little guy and his friend decided to join in and run a few laps. I'm pretty sure they were the fastest ones there. After they got bored with the running part, they stood on the sideline to observe the class. They were joined by a giant, orange cat that they had befriended early in the evening. As the ladies ran laps around the field, the boys made sure to keep the cat out of harm's way.

"Be careful not to step on the cat!" they yelled as each person ran by.

I overheard the instructor say, "Thanks for the warning guys. I almost didn't see that enormous orange cat because he was camouflaged by the green grass."

*Snicker*

Then it was time for the ladies to use those resistance bands that look like skipping ropes. The little guy got really excited.

"I know what your going to do with those ropes," he said. "Your going to use them like cowboys!"

I'm pretty sure that that comment was the highlight of the class!
:-)

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I was in the middle of absolute madness at work today, when my cell phone rang.

It was my caregiver. First thought: OMG, is the little guy hurt? Is he sick? Does she need me to pick him up early?

No. She called to let me know that he bit one of the other kids. In the back. Really hard. It was so bad that they had to apply ice to the wound.

At first I thought she'd called the wrong parent. My child has never been the kind to bite! Or hit or push for that matter. On the whole he's a pretty peaceful guy (although he has been known to throw sand from time to time). What could have provoked him to do such a thing?

From what she told me, he just lost it when the other boy pushed him (this other boy pushes him fairly regularly). Well, I guess he'd been pushed one too many times.

Immediately after he bit the other boy, he knew he had done something terribly wrong. The caregiver said you could see the guilt and shame written all over his face. She, of course, had a long talk with the little guy about his behaviour. I'm pretty sure it won't happen again.

We didn't say anything to him about the incident after daycare today, on the advice of our caregiver. Best not to dwell on it, she said. He's made his peace and he already feels guilty enough. All has been forgiven. He has no idea that she even called to tell us what happened. Unless he wants to talk about it, we aren't going to say a word.

I am hopeful that the silver lining in all of this is that the other kid will think twice about pushing him again.