Today is Thursday and I thought it would be a good time for an update on how things are going this week. So far my 10-year-old is thriving with this new routine chart system. She is very diligent about following her routine and has had a very positive attitude. She hasn't forgotten to make her lunch or missed any school assignments. Emma has even taken it a step further and is focusing more on nutrition and fitness. I didn't even discuss those things with her, but she added push-ups and sit-ups to her daily routine. She also has been asking me to cut up some carrots and broccoli for her after school snack. The whole thing seems very empowering to her.
My 13-year-old has not been quite as enthusiastic about the whole process. Although there has been improvement and I think when it comes to teenagers any improvement is a big step. What I've noticed though is that teenagers are in the middle of that individuation process. They really hate being told what to do by their parents. So with Gibson I can't even remind him to check his routine chart. Because as soon as I get involved, he becomes a bit passive aggressive and starts leaving things off his morning routine. For example, he will pick up his pajamas in the bathroom but won't hang up the towel. The other day I suggested that he might want to add turning out all the lights downstairs to his routine chart because that would be a big help to me. After I dropped the kids off at school, I went downstairs and all the lights were blazing as a passive aggressive gesture. So I think it will be best for me to wait until we have our weekly family meeting before making any new suggestions.
I would love to hear how others are doing. Please don't hesitate to share your experiences.
1 comment:
My kids are 5 1/2 and 4. We used sticky notes, one per step of the routine, and put them on the wall, so they could rearrange them as they saw fit. Unfortunately, the weather changed and half of them fell down and I didn't even notice for a day or two. I'm also horrible at routines, so I have forgotten most mornings to remind them to check their routine chart...Pretty much, this week didn't really work, as far as the routine chart goes. We do, however, have a "bedtime book" that I made for Christmas, that essentially is a routine chart, with encouragement built in about staying in their bed all night, etc. I heard my four year old "reading" the book this morning and doing a pretty good job remembering everything in there (there are little pictures, too), so they can certainly learn the steps to their routines, even at a young age. Now if only *I* could learn to have a routine... :)
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