I am working with my kids to make them masters of their own to-do lists. I've always been a list maker. I'm pretty sure I couldn't function without them. But more than just getting through the day-to-day, my lists help remind me where I've been. They are proof that I am getting somewhere... doing something.
The kids and I take a fairly easy moment-by-moment approach to life. We tend to fall into and out of routines fairly easily. We may skip from one project to the next or obsess about a single subject for weeks on end. Our agenda involves whatever is appealing and keeps us motivated. Sometimes, however, it feels as if we fall into a bit of a rut. We get stuck in habit and forget to go looking for new things to explore. Sometimes I think we get stuck in the habit rut because there are so many things we want to do that getting started is a bit overwhelming. There are more things we want to do than we have hours in the day.
The older the kids get, the more they are accomplishing on their own, without a lot of direct or hands-on input from me. Sometimes I just have to be available for help with nuts and bolts... spelling if someone is working on a story or writing a letter, reading instructions if my pre-reader is building something, or gathering supplies and materials if they are on a high shelf or otherwise difficult to locate. But one thing that really bothers me is when a busy day has ended and I am bombarded with questions about all the things we didn't get to.
So I've started encouraging the kids to help me by adding their important wanna-do's to the list each evening. Each one takes a turn helping me review the calendar and I've been giving them each their own column to highlight 2-3 things they really want to see happen the following day.
For my son, this means he's been getting in lots of games with Mom. I hate to say it, but his games are one of the things I somehow manage to put off... finding the crossing off of my own list taking precidence over his desires. He's come up with some interesting list items that I didn't expect, as well. For a few days he was "writing a letter" and we were doing so by practicing two to three words a day. He strayed from that task, so I'm still not entirely sure who the letter was intended for. We only got as far as, Hi. Do you ever think about being a soldier? I think...
Middle munchkin has used to list method to apply herself more regularly to her interest in learning French. She's been a frequent user of the Rosetta Stone French lessons, but since we've been making a list, she has spent a little bit of time daily. This week she added some French study aides she found at the library. The really cool thing was when I heard her practicing French phrases as she walked around the house today. I don't know much about the language, but she sure sounded good to me.
I'm not sure that my oldest munchkin is quite as enamored, though she is recognizing the list is a good tool for putting her stuff high on my agenda. I'm a bit compulsive about crossing things off, you see. She knows this about me and I'm sure she will use it to full effect.
For now, I am getting a little charge in seeing their names on my daily calendar. I am watching them cross things off, noting how one just draws a line and the other scribbles until the words are entirely unreadable. Someday I suppose they will abandon my notebook, maybe in exchange for their own, or they'll not feel the need for a to-do list at all. Maybe they will remember me for passing the dreaded disease of list-making on to them.
Hopefully, at the start of every list they write, they'll simply think of me.
The kids and I take a fairly easy moment-by-moment approach to life. We tend to fall into and out of routines fairly easily. We may skip from one project to the next or obsess about a single subject for weeks on end. Our agenda involves whatever is appealing and keeps us motivated. Sometimes, however, it feels as if we fall into a bit of a rut. We get stuck in habit and forget to go looking for new things to explore. Sometimes I think we get stuck in the habit rut because there are so many things we want to do that getting started is a bit overwhelming. There are more things we want to do than we have hours in the day.
The older the kids get, the more they are accomplishing on their own, without a lot of direct or hands-on input from me. Sometimes I just have to be available for help with nuts and bolts... spelling if someone is working on a story or writing a letter, reading instructions if my pre-reader is building something, or gathering supplies and materials if they are on a high shelf or otherwise difficult to locate. But one thing that really bothers me is when a busy day has ended and I am bombarded with questions about all the things we didn't get to.
So I've started encouraging the kids to help me by adding their important wanna-do's to the list each evening. Each one takes a turn helping me review the calendar and I've been giving them each their own column to highlight 2-3 things they really want to see happen the following day.
For my son, this means he's been getting in lots of games with Mom. I hate to say it, but his games are one of the things I somehow manage to put off... finding the crossing off of my own list taking precidence over his desires. He's come up with some interesting list items that I didn't expect, as well. For a few days he was "writing a letter" and we were doing so by practicing two to three words a day. He strayed from that task, so I'm still not entirely sure who the letter was intended for. We only got as far as, Hi. Do you ever think about being a soldier? I think...
Middle munchkin has used to list method to apply herself more regularly to her interest in learning French. She's been a frequent user of the Rosetta Stone French lessons, but since we've been making a list, she has spent a little bit of time daily. This week she added some French study aides she found at the library. The really cool thing was when I heard her practicing French phrases as she walked around the house today. I don't know much about the language, but she sure sounded good to me.
I'm not sure that my oldest munchkin is quite as enamored, though she is recognizing the list is a good tool for putting her stuff high on my agenda. I'm a bit compulsive about crossing things off, you see. She knows this about me and I'm sure she will use it to full effect.
For now, I am getting a little charge in seeing their names on my daily calendar. I am watching them cross things off, noting how one just draws a line and the other scribbles until the words are entirely unreadable. Someday I suppose they will abandon my notebook, maybe in exchange for their own, or they'll not feel the need for a to-do list at all. Maybe they will remember me for passing the dreaded disease of list-making on to them.
Hopefully, at the start of every list they write, they'll simply think of me.
To-Do Today
- Smile and think of Mom
2 comments:
My kids have already learned that if I don't write it down--I will not remember to do it.
I have a running sheet--left side is grocery list, right side lists the things I must accomplish today.
I have noticed that my oldest stops by and adds her wishes to both columns!
I make the list, then spend more time
looking for the list, find an old obselete list, spend more time looking then if I just
did the stuff on it and forget the
whole list thing altogether. Not a
list maker.
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