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Schedules
As novice parents dealing with our children’s ever-developing personalities, Kira and I have struggled to find the best ways to encourage Avey to do things in a timely manner. For example, at some point as I was growing up I realized that if I just did my chores/ate my food/brushed my teeth, rather than whining for 20 minutes and then doing it, I could move on to things that I enjoyed doing. Avey has not yet made this cognitive leap. If I had a nickle for every time Kira or I has patiently explained to her that if she just eats her last 3 bites she can get down and play, while she proceeds to stall and get distracted for 20 and 30 minutes at a time, I could retire right now and hire somebody to say the same thing to Carver when he’s on solid foods.
It finally dawned on us that she may be more of a visual learner. After all, she loves to draw and paint, she learned to count to 100 using the visual chart I made her, and I am certainly more visual in my learning style. Thus, we developed a daily schedule chart so that she can see the time, and a picture of what needs to happen during that time.
What a difference it has made! I laminated the chart this week, and she loves to mark off each item as she completes it, and then move onto the next thing so that she can mark that one off too. Then, in the morning, she can erase the board and start anew.
We will need to remember this little tool as she grows older. Perhaps when she’s a teenager we can put a photo of a clean room on her bedroom wall and she’ll be more inclined to keep her room tidy. I’m playing around with ideas of making a menu with photos of awesome foods next to the days of the week. Maybe if we’re lucky she’ll start cooking every night!