Limited attention span · Real Talk: by Brave Moms

Limited attention span

Hey everyone so I've been a little out of touch and mostly following on Telegram but now that we have this community on here too, I thought I would jump on and just say a quick little hello! And re - introduce myself! I’m Maria and have three boys 6,4 and 18 mos!!!!! Yes I’m super busy ha ha

I’m making goals to be encouraged and check in with you all more so I can learn and practice skills as well as get some much needed support. Here we go, here’s the scenario my five year-old has a very short attention span. He makes tons of messes in his room, but he doesn’t like to pick them up and if he does pick them up, he likes you to be in the room with him. Earlier on he had too many things I realized in his room so we made it simple and we took a lot out. He now couldn’t manage his dresser drawers. It was too much so I also drastically reduced the amount of clothes he has in his drawers. Trying to set him up for success and make it as simple as possible so today I asked him to while I was sitting on the floor to pick up and he started jumping around messing around, and I walked away and started doing my own thing and then he would go to his dad frustrated saying I’m trying to do my job. I’m trying to clean but mom‘s not in there with me And so I talked to him and I said I’m happy to be in here, but you need to work and help as I continue to sit there. He would work on picking things up and then probably after five minutes of picking stuff up he would be back to bouncing around and acting up and I would leave the room again. It was like this all afternoon and we eventually had a success. The room got clean he did it. He did his best he could and I was so proud of him for doing it and hanging in there because I realized it was a very hard task , I’ve asked him what he needs and I asked him if it would be easy for him to do a task and then take like a break and then do the task and take a break or if he’d rather clean all at once he said it’s too much and that he likes to just take breaks so that was a really good way to communicate with him to understand his needs But the biggest thing that’s hard is I have a son that’s the oldest in there who does keep it clean and he gets frustrated because the other one is messy if you guys have any other ideas on how I can navigate this let me know. My patience definitely is being tested. I feel with his silliness. He’s a very goofy silly little guy. I love that he is so goofy and silly, but I also know there are times. We need to get things done and I have a really hard time talking to him when he’s bouncing all over the place. Let me know if you guys have used any fun tricks or any types of reward systems that have been helpful. Tomorrow’s Isaiah’s birthday and we are excited to go out and do some big celebrations with him tomorrow for his birthday. I did give him a high five for finishing his room and he did seem to want to listen better after I talk to him and asked him what his needs were. If there’s anything I’m missing as I feel a little rusty at times I am still training my brain with all I’ve learned in Brave moms and yes, I definitely have to look back all the time at my notes and the classes, but let me know how I’m doing and let me know if you have any suggestions on how I can make this even more fun experience while trying to keep the room together I have literally packed all toys less clothes in his drawers, I’ve done everything I can to make it simpler for him.

The drawers were like completely neat and folded within seconds of me assisting and helping him do that. It was all over the floor. I was frustrated. I had to walk away because it made me angry, so I felt my feelings and another area of the house, but I was still very , bummed out to know that I was helping him and then the issue was re-created like within minutes later so these are little things that I’m working on with him. I’m just having a really hard time with my second child and I’m trying to figure out how to ease the load it’s been a real energy drain between my oldest and my second child bickering fighting nonstop too it’s exhausting. My husband and I, our stress load is over the top and we are doing our very best to not feel that energy drain so that’s a whole other thing too, anyway this is a long post, but I just wanted to share and tell you guys all that’s going on I appreciate all the extra ideas you all have to help me navigate this to more success ! Blessings to you all 🙏❤️❤️

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