Guest Post: Instilling organization in your children from an early age
Guest Post from Laura at Heavenly HomeMakers As my husband and I work to raise our four sons, organization is a must. Now, I'm not talking about organizing their books on the shelf using the Dewey Decimal System or color coding their action figures in special containers. Hey, it's a good day at our house if they happen to be wearing clothes that match.
I'm talking about organizing/prioritizing what we most feel like they need to learn and do in order for them to become the godly men we desire for them to be.
We focus on three key elements in order that we as parents will be organized, and so that our children will learn organization for themselves.
School Work
House Work
Spiritual Training
While these are three separate elements, we really feel like they all go together and cannot truly be separated into actual categories. We want our boys to learn that all that they learn and do is for the glory of God.
Here are some specifics of how we organize our days and how we work to train our boys to learn to organize:
*We do most of our "sit-down" school work Monday through Thursday. I write a list for each boy in their individual assignment notebook. They know that these assignments must be done by the end of the week (and certainly before they ask to make any plans with friends on Saturday!). The boys then choose to organize their individual school work any way that works best for them (with direction from us if they need it, of course).
*Fridays are our cleaning days. I usually write one list on a marker board of all the housework the boys need to do for the day. They look at the list and organize it themselves into who will do what.
For instance, all if I have written on the list "Clean Bathrooms", they then discuss and decide who will clean the toilets, who will wash the sinks, who will sweep and who will mop. These discussions don't always go as pleasantly as one would hope, but usually they work everything out pretty well. It's kind of fun to listen to their corporate "who's gonna clean what" meeting!
*We have found that meal times are perfect for Biblical instruction. (It's about the only time these boys are sitting still and quiet all at the same time!) During breakfast, I read from the Bible to them. During lunch, we work on memorizing scripture. During dinner, Daddy usually takes over with more memory work. We also use our dinner time to tell Daddy all the things we did and learned for the day.
This has been a great way to reinforce lessons learned and godly behaviors. I like to "brag" to Daddy in front of the boys when I am particularly proud of something they have done. You should see the boys beam. Pleasing their daddy is very important to them.
Because my husband and I have taken the time to implement these fairly simple organizational elements, our boys have naturally learned to make plans and organize themselves as they get older. It's been a blessing to watch. We still have a long way to go, and it all goes back to "working to be organized." Training the kids towards better organization is a certainly a work in progress.
-Laura Coppinger has been married to Matt for 13 years and is mom of four boys ages 3-10. Visit her blog for more encouragement and practical homemaking ideas.Have you gotten your Bargain Ebook Package yet? In it, you'll find great tips for making your kitchen more functional, ideas for making your kitchen more kid-friendly, and lots of delicious recipes using old-fashioned ingredients! It's only $5 for all 6 ebooks (plus some bonuses!) through tonight!
What about you? How do you help instill organization in your children? I'd love to hear your ideas and tips!
posted by Crystal Paine at 4:12 PM
3 Comments:
Crystal, the Work to be Organized post page is gone/blank. FYI
Actually we have a 19 foot wall of bookshelves, completely filled with books in Dewey order! Years ago I thought it was a good way to organize and teach library skills.
blessings, Penny Raine
http://www.pennyraine.com/blog
I love this post. This system sounds somewhat like the system my mother used for us, just a little more structured and a little less stressed. I am trying to adopt an "attitude" to have in mind and heart to prepare myself for mothering and home schooling. Working (as I am currently pre-children) in the public school system, I can sometimes feel frantic for myself or the kids I work with.
I am working so hard on organization without perfectionism in my home and life. I see a "gently structured" day and week for myself and my eventual children as a measured step to soothing, but flowing music. Sometimes my life resembles one of those symphonies where the piano adagio parts are then interupted by forte allegra parts. I so want my life to be legato-a smooth stream of activity full of joy and peace that steadily accomplishes day-by-day the goals of the day, week, year, lifetime.
Thank you for helping to give me a little more of that vision and the practical ideas to bring it into my life as well.
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