Hurry, hurry, hurry……… Not only has ‘hurry’ become normal, but we buy into the myth that says ‘when we are busy we are important.’ Multi-tasking therefore has a common place and as proficient as that may seem, it results in the fact that we don’t give our full attention to one thing and if that ‘thing’ is our child, then we’re missing something. What are we telling our children about their value if they are multi-tasked?
I remember reading somewhere that the best teaching we give our kids is the incidental teaching. This happens when we have time with them, relaxed time, not time racing round from one activity to another or trying to vacuum the floor, hang washing out, make lunches and get yourself looking respectable all before you walk out the door.
So how do we have a more simple, less hurried life with kids? For me it’s about being more organised. Sitting down each week and working out what we’re going to have for dinner during the week, hanging the washing out the night before, folding washing into piles of who it belongs to saves re-sorting, making lunches the night before, getting kids excited about helping by using reward charts, watching less TV at night (always a good one) and just going out and leaving the mess there every now and then doesn’t hurt! I don’t ever succeed at doing all these things but every now and then we work on one organisation strategy and for that week anyway, life is more calm!
What home strategies do you use to keep organised and be less hurried?
