I’ve been in a rut for a while now, desperately in need of activities for the little three and a schedule for our day!!!! I have the activities figured out, thanks to the Parenting Zoo (I highly recommend their parenting toolbox, it’s only $10, I blogged about it over at Froggy Reviews), I just need to get a few supplies, but the schedule - ARGH!!!! Seriously!
I need to break up the day into short increments - but what??? Every 15 minutes, every half hour, a little of this and a little of that???? HELP!
The twins are definitely ready to do activities, crafts, and have some structure. Here I am every day trying to figure out how to balance three children at home (six during the summer), the laundry, the housework, blogging and designs - I know I’m not the only one!!! It is a full plate, but I know I can do it better.
The twins are simply bored. As I type this they have been busy doing a little project that involves sticking “foamies” into coloring books, but I see Monkey walking around the room with about 6 stuck to his bottom LOL! These are great activities, but they don’t last forever, so I need several of them throughout the day. They aren’t great at independent play, but can handle it for little bits of time (whether they think they can or not) so I have to incorporate time for the individual areas of my home and work.
The trick really is finding something that will work for us. I have used many different planners and schedule ideas, but they ultimately were either too difficult for me to manage or just didn’t offer enough flexibility. I’m not a schedule person … I know I should be … I try, really I do … but I CAN’T {Yes I’m Whining!}. So as I work this week on putting together a schedule for my kiddos, feel free to give me ideas, suggestions, things not to do even. I have tried many things before, but I’m always open to hearing what works (or doesn’t) for other mommies!
May 12th, 2008 at 11:55 am
I feel for you and I’m in the same boat as you. I’m getting there though, when I start my day with a prayer time and some Bible Reading things seem to work better. It’s those days that I get distracted before I’ve had my devotion that go completely haywire. (Disclaimer - I only have 1 child, that is nothing compared to you! I admire Mom’s with lots of kids who seem to have it as together as you do. Your blogs are beautiful and I enjoy your writing!)
May 12th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Let me know what you come up with it is such a challenege
May 12th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
One activity that occupies my kids for a LONG time is the Perler Beads (the kids place little colored beads on pre-made shapes and then I iron them to melt them). I’m not sure of the ages of your little ones, so this activity might be too old for them (especially if they put things in their mouths) but I had to mention it because my kids will sit and create things with the beads for hours! Good luck! Best,
Genny
May 13th, 2008 at 7:13 am
oh I hear ya girlie! One sure fire way to KILL a schedule (for me) is to put time limits on things! My schedule looks more like a To-Do list, so we work in the order listed mostly… but the confines of times just mess me up! I want to feel free to take a half hour and visit with the butterfly that fluttered by! I want to extend a 15 min. playtime to 28.3 minutes if we’re all enjoying it! I use “schedules” as ideas, otherwise it becomes a jail that I have to bail from! (((hugs)))
May 14th, 2008 at 6:14 am
Lol! Looks like we’re in the same boat huh? I’m with Karyn; I hate to be rushed! I hate never getting anything done though and I can’t seem to w/o a serious schedule. So I made one up and I’m going to give it a try. I’ll let you know how it goes. Oh, this is kind of a silly thing but I kept trying to make the schedule on paper and it wasn’t working so I tried using a big dry-erase board. Not sure why that helped me but it did.