Does anyone have an answer for me for how to stop almost 6 year olds from calling my name all the time and following me everywhere?

Kristin - posted on 07/02/2012

I'm sorry you and your girls are going through such a trying time. I have a suggestion--can you try to make a game for them...perhaps a scavenger hunt...something that will make them have fun and will slowly get them more comfortable around their surroundings and eventually break them of this bad habit?

My twins are boys, and they are very competitive, so I find using their competitiveness against them works in my favor (usually). So, perhaps some morning you can hide some fun things around the house (stickers, barbie doll, craft supply) and have them find them using clues.

After completing the game, you can say to them "well, you were able to do xyz without me! I'm sooo proud of you."

just a suggestion. Good luck!

Amanda - posted on 07/02/2012

I still get this with my 7 1/2 year old and can understand how irritated you must be feeling especially coming from 2 of them. Unfortunately I don't have a way to stop it, I just wanted to let you know your not alone in experiencing it.

I have sat down with my son and explained that mummy needs some breathing space and if he didn't want to get me worked up and shouting at him then he'd need to give me 5 minutes to go to the toilet in peace or to be able to walk into another room without him following me. He has calmed down a little. Although he still wont go through to his bedroom alone, we live in a bungalow so its not as if he's upstairs and I'm downstairs. He shares a room with his 4yr old brother and if little one goes to the toilet he's right at the back of him too. He has woken terrified during the night saying that there's a man at his room door and that every time I come through he's gone (my bedroom is directly across from his). I've tried to explain to him he's just dreaming although I'm not wholely convinced on that. I am quite a spiritual person and believe in all the paranormal stuff (not everyones cup of tea) anyway I have felt something in my hallway since moving in and once seen out the corner of my eye what I thought was my dad walking into the kitchen and when I went through to ask him what he was over for there was no-one there I got spooked by it. So I'm trying to convince my son he's imagining something that I don't think he is imagining (confusing sorry). Anyway I have since placed rose quartz crystals around the house which seems to have helped although he insists on sleeping with the door closed now.

My suggestion would be first to ask your girls what it is that scares them and deal with that as a separate issue to them calling after you all the time.
You might just find that there calling after you because they have just finished school and are bored looking for something to do (bearing in mind that when at school there stimulated for a massive chunk of the day) also with there only being you in the house they have no-one else to look too for attention. I'm not a single parent so don't pretend to know what thats like I can only go from my own experience where if the schools are off more than 2 days my boys end up fighting with each other because they are bored and it doesn't matter if they have all the toys in the world they would still do this. Perhaps asking them to invite a friend over for a few hours would help (I would suggest 1 friend each - my brother-in-law finds when his stepdaughter invites friend over that its best to have an even number to avoid squabbles).

Hope everything works out for you as the summer holidays can seem like such a long time at the best of times never mind when your stressed out. Good luck x