Ah, The Witching Hours

Since school has begun I noticed that the roughest part of my day is from 3-6pm. Gabby has just gotten home from school and is cranky, hyper, prone to starting fights with AJ, and very hungry since her lunch is the earliest at 11am. AJ, on the other hand, has just napped but is not sleeping as much as she needs to. She is also hungry, cranky, and hyper. Lovely.

Top all this off with the fact that I usually have other children in the house who also shows these symptoms and are getting ready to be picked up by mom and dad, what you have is none other than the witching hours. Apparently though, this is pretty common and there are some things you can do to smooth this time over.

Thanks to Megan over at Simply, she talks about her own experience with the Witching Hour and how she deals with it. One of the most useful tips that I have gained is to whisper instead of yell when things are getting out of hand. I tried it and boy does it work! The kids stop, lean in to listen to my words, and react in a much more positive way to my directions. My throat doesn't get sore from all the yelling and they actually pay attention to what I am saying... a miracle!

For me, one of my biggest problems is that while all the hysterics are going on I am attempting to get things done, which is definitely not working right now. I have dinner to make, get the house back in some semblance of order, pack up my charges bags for pickup, usually someone calls me to chat, and lately I have had to get ready to teach dance that night. All that adds up to a mommy running around like a headless chicken, and kids who take advantage of this by also running around like headless chickens- YIKES!

I am still trying to figure out how to accomplish what I need to get done while keeping the peace in my house, but until then I at least know that it is not just me that is experiencing this strange time of the day.

Is this something you have going on in your house? If so, how the heck do you deal with it??? Especially if you are trying to cook dinner, tidy up, etc....