The arrival of a baby sister has been a huge event in my two-year-old son’s life and I’ve been struggling to help him adjust. The reality that he now has to share his mum’s time with a baby has been overwhelming – for both him and I.

The number of tantrums my little man throws per day has doubled, he refuses to play on his own when I need him to entertain himself (for a mere five minutes!) and he’s started making an achingly annoying whining sound to get our attention. Thankfully a girlfriend told me about The Second Baby Survival Guide, so I jumped at the chance to read it and get some help.

I loved the British author’s suggestion to make a ‘Special Time Box’. One of my little man’s favourite things is to play outside – with me in tow (not always possible when his baby sister is asleep inside!). I’d been trying to think of a new indoors activity we could do together, so we made a Special Time Box (by simply decorating a large cardboard box and filling it with his favourite things) and it’s working a treat.

I always let my little man choose what goes inside our Special Time Box (he changes his mind almost every day!) and we ‘hang out’ together, reading the books he’s put in there and talking about all the things inside it. Our Special Time Box has become something my little man looks forward to, so much so that he’ll ask me over and over again when we’ll be getting it out.

He now requests the Special Time Box more than he asks to play outside! Mission accomplished. A difficult situation that had been upsetting my little man (and causing me to feel the dreaded mummy guilt) has since turned into a delightful game that teaches me something new about my son every day, while giving him some quality time with his mummy. Now I just need to figure out how to get some quality time to myself…

What about you… When a new baby arrived did you find the transition easy? Was there anything you found particularly useful to help your other children adjust?

Photo: Pinterest