Kelly Holmes from Austin, Texas, faced a common problem — when her third child was born, the two eldest began to get much less care and attention, which could not but spoil relations with them. Mom would be happy to devote time to each of the children, but they are all different and efforts are always made disproportionately. How to find the golden mean? With the help of a small trick, for which you only need five hair bands or similar items.
By the age of 39, Kelly has become a mom three times already, her children are 9, 4 and one year old. The woman began to notice that her temperament and attention began to behave very selectively and this negatively affects the children. The question lies at the junction of the emotional and rational spheres, you can’t solve it just like that. And if everything is clear with a one-year-old baby, then how to distribute your attention between the older ones so that none of them feels deprived? After digging through a lot of scientific papers on child psychology, Kelly developed the «method of 5 rubber bands».
It works like this:
1. In the morning, we attach all five elastic bands to one wrist
2. If you have done something specific for one child, paid attention only to him, while messing with the children, move the elastic band to the other hand.
3. To return the gum to its original place, you need to pay attention to another kid by playing in it, singing a song, etc.
4. Elastic bands can migrate back and forth during the day, but in the evening all five should be on the same hand again – then everything went smoothly.
It may seem difficult to distinguish a nose wiped on the move from a purposeful sign of attention, but parents quickly get used to it. Five rubber bands are more than enough to «measure» the degree of influence on the child during the day. And, since the «mom’s loyalty sensor» is always in front of your eyes, it’s not difficult to control the situation. According to Kelly, after the publication of the life hack, she has already received about 500,000 messages that it works great!
The life of young parents is a legalized chaos, and the more ways we come up with and adopt it, the easier and more comfortable our life will be. And the lives of our children, too.
