Kids Get Really Crazy
 

from 4-5 every afternoon lately. By the time, or as soon as, dcps arrive, it's instant chaos. Any suggestions? It just seems over the past couple of weeks it's been consistently that way. I mean, the kids are out of control. :confused: They don't listen and if I ask them to do something, I get No in return. The 2 3 yos all of a sudden, get rough with the littler ones. It's just crazy. I would have the dcks ready for pick up but times can vary.
Today, they were drawing and doing puzzles at pick up time so it's not like they were all prewired for their parents.
The 4 yos are the worst. :(

Originally Posted by Josiegirl:
from 4-5 every afternoon lately. By the time, or as soon as, dcps arrive, it's instant chaos. Any suggestions? It just seems over the past couple of weeks it's been consistently that way. I mean, the kids are out of control. :confused: They don't listen and if I ask them to do something, I get No in return. The 2 3 yos all of a sudden, get rough with the littler ones. It's just crazy. I would have the dcks ready for pick up but times can vary.
Today, they were drawing and doing puzzles at pick up time so it's not like they were all prewired for their parents.
The 4 yos are the worst. :(

I’m experiencing this too, although not as bad just antsy and not using walking feet and being loud on general. We haven’t been able to get outside in well over a week now due to refs and windchills. Are you in a cold weather climate? Is it possible to get them outside from like 3-4PM?

We do get outside and have fresh fluffy snow to play in. Typically we're out twice a day, the last time being out anywhere from 3-4.
I do need to try and stay outside longer though. Sometimes we stay out 30-45 minutes, yesterday it was closer to the 20-30 minute mark. Two dcks came without snowpants. :confused::confused: We now have maybe 8" or so of snow. Hope they come prepared today because no matter how careful children are they still get wet and cold.:(

That's our "table" time.

I keep special toys just for this. But the kids must stay at the table, only the child being dismissed can get down. We are outside for hours in my program, and I saw that it didn't matter. They would come in and be off the wall. I realized they needed to learn *how* to settle down. It not only cuts down on the end of day chaos, but also with clean up as only so many toys are out.

Originally Posted by Play Care:
That's our "table" time.

I keep special toys just for this. But the kids must stay at the table, only the child being dismissed can get down. We are outside for hours in my program, and I saw that it didn't matter. They would come in and be off the wall. I realized they needed to learn *how* to settle down. It not only cuts down on the end of day chaos, but also with clean up as only so many toys are out.

I may have to try something like this. Trouble is, aside from strapping 'em down, I can already see my words hitting their little brick wall ears and meaning nothing to them. I'm sure the dcps are not impressed when everybody is running around crazy. I know *I'M* not. :o

Originally Posted by Josiegirl:
I may have to try something like this. Trouble is, aside from strapping 'em down, I can already see my words hitting their little brick wall ears and meaning nothing to them. I'm sure the dcps are not impressed when everybody is running around crazy. I know *I'M* not. :o

I *absolutely* use my booster seats - with buckles ;) for ones who need the additional "support" :D

My kids are also crazy at this time. Especially my own children UGH! I do table activities like the previous poster said. When I first started introducing it, we practiced before it was time for pick up. I role played parents coming to the door and dismissing kids and they thought that was sooo funny, but they really got it. It helps them to have that boundary of the table and strict rules.

Originally Posted by Josiegirl:
The 4 yos are the worst. :(

I find this to be true every day of my life. My own included. :lol: I have three of them right now having a balled sock snowball fight. It is all about diversion. :ouch:

I do buh-bye outside so no longer have the arrival/departure issues but used table time when I did. Way back in the day it was circle rug and a movie before they made that against regs.

Water paint sets (with a small amount of water in no-spill paint cups), play dough, collage/glue sticks, scissors/paper, color wonder, stencils/colored pencils, rubbing plates/peeled crayons, square stringing beads (who wants to chase the round ones :confused:), and paint with water books were favorites. likethis

I plan the last hour of the day as outside time.
Pick ups happen outside so that makes it nice!

It's dark by that time but our yard is pretty lit up.

When it's too cold, I offer a quiet activity that allows for children to leave without disrupting the whole group (pick up toys, dismantling toys etc) such as book time or large group block play or they have the option of helping me do the end of day clean up. Most do not want to help me so they play blocks or look at books.

Those kids that get particularly crazy at that time (4 yr olds ;)) I have NO issue with applying a consequence the following day. This also helps them understand that your behavior today impacts your activity the next day.

So if a child is unruly or behaves badly when I know they know better at pick up in Tuesday comes back on Wednesday with some limitations as to what activities they can/can't participate in. This is a great way to teach kids the concept of cause and effect in regards to behavior on a larger scale.

Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I plan the last hour of the day as outside time.
Pick ups happen outside so that makes it nice!

It's dark by that time but our yard is pretty lit up.

When it's too cold, I offer a quiet activity that allows for children to leave without disrupting the whole group (pick up toys, dismantling toys etc) such as book time or large group block play or they have the option of helping me do the end of day clean up. Most do not want to help me so they play blocks or look at books.

I have considered this but in the winter my families don't use thick coats or snowpants in the carseat. So do you send them home all geared up or do you have them remove the winter gear before they get in the car? I don't want the family going inside to remove the thick stuff while I'm out with the others. I can't figure out a good system.

Originally Posted by Indoorvoice:
I have considered this but in the winter my families don't use thick coats or snowpants in the carseat. So do you send them home all geared up or do you have them remove the winter gear before they get in the car? I don't want the family going inside to remove the thick stuff while I'm out with the others. I can't figure out a good system.

They either go home dressed as is or they remove their winter coat while getting in the car but keep their snowpants on.

None of my parents go back inside to remove items or to leave them as I am not a storage facility....lol! All my families bring their winter gear back and forth daily.

It's just part of life here I guess... it was the same when I was the parent bringing my child to daycare daily.

I guess I've never really thought about it.....the winter coat in car seats thing wasn't a "thing" when my kids were little so I just leave it up to the parent.....buckle in as is, or remove the bulky coat right before getting in.
No one seems to have an issue doing that at all.
Atleast no one has said anything about it.

I put all the toys away and either read to them or set up an obstacle course or some kind of fun game. That last hour is the worst for sure.

I wish we could end the day outside but the kids nap until 3, then its diapers and snack and then pickup happens at 4pm. Also our gate doesn’t open in the winter and there is no pathway to it so parents can’t get to it anyway.

Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I plan the last hour of the day as outside time.
Pick ups happen outside so that makes it nice!

In decent weather, I do a LOT of outside pickups. It's partly due to what happens in the sand box. I have to wash their feet in the warm weather when we go outside, so it's often easier to just stay outside for age.

With older kids, can you get them to have a mandatory reading time? Works here. Mom at tdoor gotta go.

Coloring or play dough usually help here.

That seems to be the witching hour for a lot of kids.

My crew is generally in the 2-4 age range. I bump nap time back to 1:00-3:15. They get up from nap, use the bathroom, have some free play time, then eat snack at 3:45. We are done around 4-4:15 and then pull out a (non-messy) group project like puzzles or laminated build its (I made a bunch myself and bag them up to pull out). That usually lasts us through pickups which run 4:15-4:45.

No muss, no fuss.