Hi
Last weekend was another busy one and very tiring. My daughters woke up very early on Saturday morning and the first thing my five year old said was ‘mummy we have a lot to do today!’ which I must admit made me smile; she sounded so much like me. It wouldn’t normally matter but I’d got up early to do some exercise (walking, yoga, pilates – hadn’t really decided). Nevertheless I slightly changed my plans and started them off decorating their Easter boxes (more about that later), made them breakfast etc and then set off for my morning walk around 8am. I power walked for thirty five minutes; the sun was shining and I felt so happy.
At 10.30am we set off for a previously booked Easter egg hunt with the girls. After answering questions and collecting chocolate and sweets in each shop we visited, we finished up in the local pub for a drink whilst the girls played in the play area. Just before we left for haircuts, the Easter bunny arrived dishing out presents which the girls thought was great although my eldest did say ‘that’s just someone dressed up as a bunny’.
In the evening we had friends over for dinner; my fiancé cooked for us – a five course meal (although we never got to the fifth course because we were full up). He did brilliantly and although it was a late night, it was very entertaining. Not actually being able to remember ever having a dinner party with friends before, we vowed to do this again, but maybe we’ll get a takeaway next time as he spent a lot of time in the kitchen.
The only thing that spoilt it was the clocks going forward Saturday night, which didn’t help when the girls got up at 6.30am Sunday morning when I hadn’t gone to bed until 2am! Headache and tiredness was about me all of Sunday. I tried not to let this ruin my plans to do ‘craft’ with the girls so just dosed myself up with paracetamol.
Craft
We had been talking about this all week and the girls were very excited. I cut out 6 oblong cards for each of them and wrote the following on each one:
- Brush teeth
- Brush hair
- Go to the toilet
- Change into pyjamas or nightie
- Choose story
- Get into bed – goodnight
They then decorated them with pictures, stickers and glitter (yes messy!) and I laminated them with that sticky back plastic stuff. They loved it and it kept them and me entertained for ages. Since Sunday I haven’t had to tell them what to do at bedtime, I just collect the cards as they do what it says on each one. Obviously they can choose the order they do them in, except the ‘get into bed’ one which I collect after stories and before I kiss them goodnight. The routine feels a lot more organised and I don’t feel like I’m continually saying ‘please can you …..’ every few minutes.
My tip – Are there any routine tasks that you usually help the children with that they can take responsibility for? Encourage them to do these things on their own (assuming they are old enough). It doesn’t have to be anything big. Children like to do things well and feel like they are in control of their actions. Once they’ve done something by themselves, give them lots of praise.
Until next time…..
Sandra
www.tipsandluxuries.com
Sandra Madeira 