Hi, Hive friends! Last Saturday, I was glad that the kids were home. That means, no classes on a weekend. They woke up as early as 9 AM. I wanted to sleep more. They asked me to serve them food. I felt so groggy.
I felt like we got robbed
I felt so slow that day. I had just drank coffee but was not in the mood to eat lunch. The kids went back to my room, and while I was slowing down with my coffee, I checked the room. Oh no!
The cars in the kitchen area. I was just very lazy to declutter and put the toys in their places. I had not started doing the dishes and the clothes for the washing machine. I wanted to do nothing. The kids went back to the living room/kitchen area and watched TV again.
I don't want to stress around. They just asked me to watch TV with them and laughed with them when a cartoon character did some betise. They asked for food and water again. At 4 PM, I was hungry and decided to eat very late, my first meal of that day. My husband arrived and ate late as well.
I was able to fold the clothes, do the dishes, and put the dirty clothes in the washing machine. I picked up some toys to store in the box. I was able to fix our bed, as well.
Asking my kids to store the toys but never listened to me
I speak English to my kids but can speak French, too. They are Bilingual. I am not yet good at French. I asked them nicely to store the toys. They laughed at me. I raised my voice. They laughed at me. If I became frustrated, I would scream more. I stopped and told myself to be calm.
I start to speak my original language
I speak Cebuano. I was a little bit pissed when they laughed at me. I started to count in Spanish.
"Uno, dos, tres..."
My kids started to get scared as they heard me being serious.
They stopped jumping in the bed and picked up the toys.
I continued to speak in Cebuano.
"Panghiposa ang mga duwaan! (Store the toys!)" My voice was calm but firm.
"Please, stop to speak Spanish!" Alexandre exclaimed.
I wanted to laugh because it was funny but I made sure to have that serious face. Well, when I speak my local language, they get scared, that means I am not joking. I am not playing around anymore.
They finished storing the toys and I asked to have their photos taken as proof they did a good job. Hahaha!
I need to speak my language, often so that they can be multilingual in the future. But it is really good to speak my mother tongue as this would lessen my frustration with disciplining my kids. I am in control of my emotions when I speak Cebuano.
How do you deal disciplining with kids? If you're in a multilingual-speaking household, which language would you use?
Aww! The kids did it again😅 I think clutter around the house is normal, especially when there are children. The good thing is that while your kids laugh at you, they still know how to put their toys back in their boxes.
Hahaha, they have no choice anymore since I started speaking Cebuano. XD
And it's funny they thought you were speaking in Spanish :D