Schedules and Plans
Schedules and structure to our days is probably one of the most important aspects of our home. Make a plan, include your children in the plan, their buy in is important. They need to feel apart of the plan, a part of the family – a “pat on the back” when it is working and a “back to the drawing board” when the plan isn’t successful.
Sit around the table with a pen and paper. Allow TIME to talk and share ideas. No idea is a bad idea. Start with the beginning. What happens first? Ask the question of each of your family “partners”. What happens second? Etc. etc. etc.
It could be:
Mom and dad get up at 6:00am.
Mom and dad have coffee together and get breakfast ready.
Children (ages may matter) get up at 8:30am and eat breakfast together.
Everyone breaks to make beds, brush teeth, pick up their rooms, get dressed for the day and meet back in the living room at 9:00am.
School, games, whatever family decides will build your schedule.
When you get your teeth brushed, pick up your room and are dressed for the day, then we will play games or whatever the next move will be on your schedule.
Work at creating a schedule for one week – change up the Saturday and Sunday schedule to deviate from school work and daily chores perhaps. Revisit the building of your next week together as a family. Talk about what worked and what didn’t work. Sometimes you won’t get through a whole week before you need to revisit. This is a great way for our children to see that life and planning takes thinking and TIME.
You’re also less likely to see behavior problems when you’ve structured your child’s day. When your child knows what to expect, he’ll be less anxious about what is going on. He’ll be free to focus on managing his behavior, rather than worrying about what’s expected of him.
Very Well Family
AND, have fun – allow for flexibility. You may decide to keep the kids up and watch a family movie so the morning routine may need time tweaking. This is a great opportunity of TIME with our children. TIME we rarely have for them to see us truly take the lead in our homes and have schedules that include FUN and PLAY.
