The Witching Hour

Why is it that kids turn into little monsters between the hours of about 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. - the Witching Hour it is usually called though I don't know why. When my kids get off the bus, I am happy to see them home, go over their school work, and just chat. My almost three year old, who has been good all day, starts throwing tantrums. She wants whatever they have, are showing me, or my attention. There is usually a tug-of-war between her and one of the older kids over some item they brought home from school. My other three school-aged kids turn into cranky kids within a few minutes of being home - arguing and sniping at each other. When they direct that A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E at me - uh-uh, I don't think so!

Then it is time to get dinner going and one child after another is whining or tattling (or in the case of my oldest - sulking). Of course, they choose this time to all need something from me. Forget about dinner preparations, they want me NOW. Of course, they'll also whine about being soooooooo hungry (you know how they draw out that whining), never mind that they interrupted dinner prep continuously.

Homework. My oldest gives up easily if she can't figure something out. She comes to me instead to "help her" (that means she wants me to find the answer she didn't want to spend the time looking up herself). She gets frustrated and she just stops. When I point out where she should read to figure it out, I get that sigh and sulk that pre-teens do so well. You know the one that says, "you suck mom." I'm hearing that sigh more often the closer my child gets to becoming a teenager.

Do I get to look forward to more of this when my four kids all become teenagers?