Not every day starts out bright and filled with sunshine. There are going to be some days when kids wake up “on the wrong side of the bed” and are grumpy. Fortunately, there are some things that parents can do to salvage a rough morning – and prevent it from spoiling the rest of the day.
Rachel Macy Stafford wrote a piece for Huffington Post Parents called “10 Ways to Salvage a Bad Morning Before Parting Ways”. In it, she has listed 10 ways that a parent can influence a grumpy child to change his or her mood and have a better day.
It is my understanding that the goal might be to salvage what started off as a bad morning before the parent and child part ways for the day. In other words, it is important to help the child get over his or her grumpy mood so it doesn’t stretch out and spoil the entire day. Sometimes, all that takes is two minutes of understanding from a parent.
One of the ideas she points out is about picking your battles. Is it really that big a deal that your child wants to wear mismatched socks to school today? This situation can seem overly important in the chaos of the morning of a school day.
Instead, she suggests that parents decide if the issue truly is a battle worth fighting. If not, then let it go. If it is important, then parents need to speak in a tone of voice that can be heard, and that conveys care and concern. Avoid starting a screaming match, or battle of the wills, if possible.
I’d like to add some additional advice for salvaging a rough morning. Consider giving your child a “personal day”. You don’t have to actually call it that, but the idea is the same as when an adult takes a day off from work due to illness or stress. Sometimes, there are circumstances that are just too stressful to cope with until after a person has had a little break to rest and recuperate.
Too many after school events in the same week, combined with extra amounts of homework, can make any child feel disinclined to go to school. Older kids might be struggling to cope with a social drama that is going on. Your child can benefit from having a day off of school to recover.
Another option is to offer a small reward that the child can earn by going to school that day. It could be thirty minutes spent playing on the school playground after school (with the parent attending). It could be the opportunity to watch their favorite movie after school. This small reward gives your child something positive to look forward to – and could help turn a grumpy morning into one that has some hope.
Image by odonata98 on Flickr.
Related Articles at Families.com:
* Kids Who Wake Up Crabby or Crying
* When Your Child Won’t Go to Sleep