We wear many caps while homeschooling, teacher, cafeteria lady, janitor, Mom, wife, friend, etc. We may work from home as well?! We may also have a very needy child, one who needs us for tea parties, to get a snack, to read a book, but we also have chores and responsibilities. How do we find our balance? How do we resist the whine, you know what I am talking about.

Whining is the worst and makes us all want to tear out our hair, but we can be stronger than the whine if we set it in our minds to be and establish a consequence. "I don't like that tone of voice you are using, please use your normal voice or we are done talking."

If the whine persists, walk away.

If it is a really persistent problem use their currency, for one it may be screen time, another mp3 player, another youtube videos, whatever it is use it as both a reward and consequence. "That was very nice asking, however, I don't want to play with puzzles; would you like 30min of screen time?" On the flip side, "I asked you to stop using that tone of voice you have now lost 30 minutes of (Whatever)."

We must never be "at the mercy" of our children they need to know that we are valuable, our time is valuable, and to not take that for granted. This is a training field for their future relationships, imo.

If this is brand new, slowly ramp up. 5 min rewards and consequences, then 10, etc. They need to find their footing in a world where Mom says no