I talked to nannyde on Monday and she gave me a couple of great techniques. This one has been excellent for us and I can't imagine that other providers don't have the same issue. Okay so when my DH comes home, my two girls (and sometimes the DC kids!) will run to the door and overwhelm him right there with "hi's" and "look at this" and that sort of attention. Its just too much and has gotten to the point where my two girls do this to everyone that comes to the door, basically rushing to the door and acting rowdy for attention. They aren't doing anything "bad" necessarily but I did think they needed to know how to calm down when people come over and greet visitors appropriately. Imagine how puppies run to the door and jump on people when the doorbell rings, that sort of thing. Okay so per nannyde, my DH comes in and greets me first, then he gives an instruction to the girls and then he takes off his shoes and gets settled and THEN they come over for a hello hug and whatnot. The instruction we decided on is for the girls to go sit on the couch and wait for my DH to call them over to say hi. The first day my older was so confused and thought she was being punished. The second day, they did it but were still confused but not upset. The fourth day (today) my older sees my DH pull up in front of the house and she runs to the couch to wait for him, no instructions needed. YAY! problem solved and this is the new rule for anytime visitors come over as well. Thank you nannyde! Still working on the other techniques and will keep you updated!

For those of you who are wondering, nanny said its important for the authority figures in the house to greet each other first and for the new one entering (daddy in this case) to immediately give an instruction to be followed that reminds the kids that he is in charge. Daddy was super hesitant to do this technique because he thought it was mean and felt bad saying no when the girls just wanted a hug. However, he tried it and loves it.

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