CAN YOU TELL I AM A TEACHER?
I truly believe that kids LOVE and THRIVE on schedules and routines. My training taught me this, my experience in teaching "proved" this in my opinion beyond ANY shadow of a doubt, and my monkeys proved this 10 fold.
I also am a FIRM believer that kids are SMART. Often so much more than we give them credit for. (One of my first memories was of me thinking ~I understand so much more than my mom and dad know! ~) I know that with some intense instruction/training and time, your children can learn way more than you thought that they were capable of. It just takes YOUR time and YOUR planning. For example, I potty-trained all of my boys starting at 18 months and they were all in underwear by 20 months all day long and by 22 months - day and night! They rock, but it was a lot of dedicated time to the process but they ALL THREE got it.
When Gabriel was 3 1/2 and the twins 2, I decided that it was time for some basic morning chores/schedule. *Morning could be a very hectic time, so thus evolved the schedule.* They LOVE this thing! LOVE.... I explained how it worked. I trained them in their chores and these boys again lived up to, NO EXCEEDED!!!, my expectations.
Time invested wisely in children pays off in great outcomes.
So my children are now on a daily routine that starts as soon as they have asked to be excused from the table, put their own dishes on the counter and have washed their hands and faces. They are getting big and so capable. What a fun new experience for our family to be in little boy chapter vs. baby chapter.
4 comments:
Karen, I love the drawings! You crack me up! And, I totally agree with you! Schedules are KEY. Oliver is so scheduled, and honestly, it works for us and I believe it helps me to be a better mother. My neighbor and I had babies within two days of each other. She and her family don't maintain a schedule AT ALL! Not for feedings, etc! But, I've learned that it works really well for HER and their family, and the kids are happy and healthy. Perhaps it's not for everyone, but it's definitely for us! It's nice to see that a 10-month old understands the flow of the day and has expectations as to when to eat, sleep, play, etc! I love it!
You know the funny thing is that those pictures took me FOR-EVER!!! :) And I had to add underwear to the getting dressed picture, because my kids are so literal that they thought they could cross off their box with just a shirt and a bottom. BOYS.... :)
And me, without a list or schedule struggles and gets frazzled with loudness, craziness and wildness. So yes, schedules work wonderfully for THE COWART CLAN!! I know, I have friends who are fabulous parents too who are fly by the seat of their pants types, it just DOES NOT work for me at all. I am a frazzled, grumpy mommy.
We're a scheduled fam, too! I was thinking about something like this for our mornings too, since Kelsey will be starting preschool in the fall and we'll need to get ourselves out the door.
Thanks for the comment!
I LOVED having a set schedule for my babies. Feedings, naps, routines, they were so essential for my sanity! I am not so great at keeping a schedule now that they're older, though I did have one for the school year. My oldest daughter struggled with it, though, and I think an actual visual help like the chart pictured would really help her. She's starting Kindy this fall, so I think I'm going to start getting the schedule worked out NOW, since school starts two weeks after the baby comes. And LOL about the literal/underwear thing! My boy would be the same way!!
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