Entertaining the Kids

It goes without saying, I love my kids. I love being with my kids. I love hanging out with my kids. But, dare I say it? It can get boring.

Some days I take the easy way out and I'm guilty of letting my kids watch too much TV. Yes, these times are handy for getting a bit of cleaning done, dinner prepared, writing finished or just taking a breather, but I would much rather be spending quality, one on one time with the kids doing something that we ALL enjoy.

This is where a weekly plan will come in handy. I suspect most of my boredom is the result of not having a plan. It can be hard to be exciting and creative when put on the spot. I certainly would want (or need) a lesson plan if I was a teacher, shouldn't I have something similar with my own children?

It doesn't need to be anything too complex, too educational or too strict. My weekly plan will have a simple mission: To help me be a better, more attentive & hands on mummy. I'll start by focusing on which 'lessons' I want my children to learn. I want to foster a love for reading, I want to encourage them to continually learn, I want them to learn nutrition, I want them to be polite, but most of all I want them to be happy and have fun. 

So, this will be one (among many) of my missions to complete in the coming days: To create a Weekly 'Lesson' plan for my children with the goals I mentioned above included. This schedule will be pretty comprehensive once household chores, appointments and even meal times will all be taken into consideration, but as the Manager of Household Operations, I want my 'workplace' to run more efficiently.
I want these short years before my children start school to be as stress free as possible and I want to look back on these as some of the best years of my life.

For some extra tips on managing your household, check out this site: http://hubpages.com/hub/Managing-Your-Household-Tips-for-Stay-at-Home-Moms.

And I'll hopefully be sharing my plan with you soon!

Routines

If you've ever had difficulties getting your toddlers ready for anything, you'll appreciate the importance of a good routine.

You've probably seen various routine charts before and available for sale.  These might work for some people, but I wanted something that would be easy to understand and could be personalised for our family.

I created two routines, one for the morning and one for the evening. Our routine charts use pictures, since my kids can't read... yet.

 

Our morning routine is pretty self explanatory. It explains all the activites needed to be done to get out the door or simply ready for the day.  

 

Our evening routine basically starts from just before dinner is served and also lets my littlies know what each step is before bed. I made these original charts back in May and some things have changed slightly, so I will be updating both charts soonish.

These charts live in a plastic sleeve on our fridge.  It simply gets turned around depending on what chart we need to use.

Here's how to make your own chart:
1. Write down your morning and evening routines separately on a piece of paper.
2. Open Publisher or similar program. Type in each step.
3. Insert a relevant image for each step.
4. Print and place in a plastic sleeve protector or laminate.
5. Stick it up for all to see!

You could create a routine chart for just about anything or use this same idea for a chores chart. Either list any chores you expect your child to complete or use a step by step list on how to clean the bathroom, for example.

Hope this helps. Now, to get my hands on a laminator and go nuts!