To say that my life was sheer chaos was an understatement. I was a mess, the house was a mess, and the baby was a mess never knowing what to expect next. Hurricane Irene had NOTHING on me. I could never find time to do anything and couldn't understand why. Fast forward to today and while I'm no Martha Stewart (and definitely nowhere as rich), life in general is much more... together. My savior? Routines and and a bit more consistency.
I won't get into details, but with flexible routines (not to be confused with rigid schedules), you get things done. Add consistency and it eventually becomes autopilot. And when kids learn all this early on, it will benefit them for the rest of their lives.
Some of you and your kids as well may already have your many routines down and are consistent with them. I envy you. For the rest of us hapless parental souls who didn't pick this up somehow on the road of life (I must have missed that exit... that and many others), we're just now learning and putting these measures into place. Better late than never right??
To help kick off this learning process, I put together some morning, afternoon, and evening routines which I'm currently using for my daughter during the school year. Hopefully these routines are helpful to your children as well as provide a springboard of inspiration of how you can implement routines into your own day if you haven't done so already.
The lists may seem overwhelming at first, so begin with just one item per list per week or until it becomes a habit. A simple "I noticed that you did XX" will help to cement the habit. Do not praise as you just want them to notice what they did. They will intrinsically feel good that they accomplished it. Then work on the next item on the list. My daughter is now laying out her clothes for the next day without me asking her. ZOMG!
As my daughter is now in 2nd grade, the routines I put together probably work better for 1st graders and older... or at least kids who can read. I plan on working on a simpler graphic based routine for my 2 year old son which I will post the first chance I get. I'd love to hear suggestions on what you would want to see for older kids and parents as well.
So enough blathering Kat... where are the goods already? Check it out below!
