Ever find yourself just wondering through the week and Friday comes, but you feel like you have accomplished nothing? Yup! I, like many of you, am a visual person and require.a reminder of all the things I have done and need to do. What I didn't take into consideration is my children are just the same. We have had morning and nightly routines, beautifully displayed with dry erase and we have used them, but the habit faded and soon the visual reminders got thrown away.What I didn't take into consideration is that my children could need that visual of all they have accomplished earlier in the week!
Heading into summer 2022 I knew I wanted to bring the lists back, but in what capacity? Luckily for me, my husband was going to take all the kids on a random Saturday morning and I thought, "Wow, this is it. I can get my summer lists and activity books put together!" when suddenly that thought was soon followed by a "Mom, I want to stay with you and work on our lists." & then a 15 month old cry, who needed a solid nap in her own bed. As I hesitantly agreed to have a seven year old helper, I am so glad I agreed!
So often we think we need to get our children organized, in reality we all organize differently, even our children.
As we sat down and began planning what would be on our list, she quickly recalled everything from the previous attempts. I suggested for summer we needed to have a daily tasks category, something that they could do everyday. We agreed that chores were in order and she gave my some ideas of things she would like to be in charge of. Now, this is my oldest, take my time getting out of bed, can't decide what to wear child, and I have never seen her so excited to grab her clip board and get to work! (Come to think of it even when they were dry erase, the arguments and the constant reminders in the mornings and bedtime, effortlessly went away. I could have saved myself the dreaded "brush your teeth" on repeat every morning.)
The paper was hot off the press and she was already in the bathroom cleaning, because after all the bathroom cleaning was on her list!
Why did it take me so long to get these lists back together? Grab the free routine printable below!