I have always known it, but it has hit home even more this year now that our 5 year old is becoming more independent that she NEEDS structure. The bummer is that my hubby and I are not very structured. I love to fly by the seat of my pants most of the time, and have a very high need for change. (meal planning has changed my life though!) My oldest child, on the other hand, doesn't function well in those situations... and most of all she does NOT like to be rushed!
Thus the bedtime chart was born. We had a fun time cutting pictures out of magazines, gluing them on and then laminating it. I'm thinking about making other ones for different times in the day, but I'm doing all I can to stick with this one consistently :)
Not only has it helped get them into bed, but on school nights, doing each step on the chart helps make the morning routine a lot happier and gets us out the door a lot quicker.
I would LOVE to hear the things you do to create structure in your homes! I'll take all the help I can get! :)
structure DEFINITELY makes my day go much more smoothly...one example is: in addition to my boys daily chores (making beds. brushing teeth)
ReplyDeletethey also have chores that i have assigned on Mon, Wed, Fri.
this makes it easy for them to remember & there are no unforseen outbursts.
this is a great post, jazz! coming from very creative parents, she is probably very visual... i'm sure this helps a lot!
ReplyDeleteelizabeth, i would love to hear some of your chore ideas! we got a few, but i love the MWF thing.