Teaching Routines (The Morning List)
Guest post by Julie
Hi! I’m Julie from over at Breezy Acres Farm. I am a wife to a graphic designer/photographer husband and mom to two preemies. Ori, age 2, was born at 33 weeks and Calla, age 1, was born at 26 weeks. After teaching middle school English for five years, I am privileged to spend my days at home with my two blessings.
Now that the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is over, I am ready to start 2011 with good routines for my children and myself. Trying to locate one of Ori’s shoes as we are heading out the door for a doctor’s appointment isn’t a good use of anyone’s time. But, whose fault is it really? Have I trained Ori where to put his shoes? Do I put my own shoes in their proper place? Routines and organization are essential to any household.
In Noel Piper’s Treasuring God in Our Traditions
To help instill a solid routine for my two-year-old, I created a chart with pictures representing each part of our morning routine. This makes it easy for Ori to follow.
Ori wakes up at 7:30. As soon as he moves into his big boy room and bed, he will make his bed at this time. I will make my bed too (which I have never done consistently).
At 7:45, he will change clothes and do his morning chores. Ori’s chore right now is to feed the dogs and cats. To be honest, most days it would be much easier and faster to feed the dogs myself because Ori would rather play. Sometimes he cries when I tell him it’s time to feed the dogs. Sometimes I have to discipline him before he comes to help. However, work is an important part of life and I want him to learn that he has to do his work before he can play. A friend recently shared that it is good to push our childrens’ buttons because it allows us to evaluate their hearts. By asking Ori every morning to help feed the dogs, I am pushing his buttons. He doesn’t want to do it. But if he comes happily to help, I know his heart is in the right place. If he throws a fit and has to be disciplined before he will help, I have work to do.
8 o’clock is breakfast and vitamins. Little Calla wakes up at 8 and is able to join us. We always read a chapter in Proverbs at breakfast. Ori loves it and it is a great way to add tradition to the mundane breakfast eating.
8:30 is free play for Ori while I clean up the kitchen and unload the dishwasher for the day (I always run it at night so that there are no dirty dishes before I go to bed).
9am is something new for 2011: Bible time. After I help him find the right place in his Bible, Ori will spend time alone in his room “reading” (aka listening to a Bible story on audio CD) quietly. I truly hope that this will instill in him a desire to have alone time with God in the morning as he continues to grow up. While he is upstairs in his room for this quarter hour, I will have time to work and play with Calla.
which comes with audio CDs. The list continues with snack time and then activity time with Mom (which I try to plan the night before), but those first several things are the daily routines we will be completing each morning.
As 2011 begins, I challenge you to think about the routines and disciplines you want to teach your kids this year. I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas on this topic as well (this is new for me too!).
What a great morning routine and I've never seen anyone who does bible time with their young children (I'm sure a lot do, I've just never noticed or talked to someone about it I guess). Thanks for sharing this and it's SO good to get into a routine. I have a hard time with sticking to a routine now that I'm staying at home but it will be good for both of us to try. I'll have to check out the deluxe edition of the storybook bible (we have the regular)!
I appreciate you sharing this. I like the idea of including a specific Bible time. My two boys share a room (2.5 & 14 months), but it would be nice for the older boy to have a morning quiet time.
are you willing to share your .pdf or .doc for the morning routine?
Love this! We have a routine that I am "tweaking" as my son grows, but I had never thought of making it visible for him. I will be doing this asap!
i LOVE this idea! May I ask how old your son is? I know you said he's 2, however is he 2-1/2, almost 3, or just turned. My son is 26 months and my daughter is almost 10 month. I feel my son would benefit from having a set schedule. It seems our mornings are always a struggle because I can never get him to do what needs to be done. (Getting changed, change clothes, etc). I plan on checking out both the books you mentioned. I think my son would love the deluxe bible. Right now we have Tiny Bear Bible!
YAY! We got that bible and CD for Christmas – and I LOVE the idea of having Taylor and Mason go to their rooms for quiet time with God -although I doubt they could go to the same room. Maybe I should get 2 of those bibles and CDs! But anyway, great idea – we were on such a great routine like this a year ago – and then I got lazy, but we need it back. Thanks for the inspiration.
We also have "BIble Time Breakfast"! I think the main thing to remember with young children is consistency! They will gain so much if they see you set a great example and if you are doing it daily!
http://eatloveprayalot.blogspot.com
Beautifully written. I got a lot out of this post. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing your routine! I'm in the process of rebuilding mine, and I need to rebuild my children's routine's as well.
You will love making your bed once you get into the habit. It takes less than two minutes, and you get to start the day with something marked off your list.
I love that you're providing your two-year-old quiet time with God! I think the earlier you can get into a habit with your children, the better.
I read a blog called RaisingOlives.com, and she talked about how they do Bible time with their big family on her blog today.
I'm grateful for the chance to gain insight from other moms.
I love the routine you have set! My son is only 10 months old, and we have an eating and sleeping routine, but the rest of the day we just play. :-)
Thanks for your sweet comments! I will add that since I have posted the chart for Ori to see, he has not complained about his chores at all because he sees that "play time" is coming. It's amazing what a difference the visual has made so far. Hopefully it lasts. :-)
Melissa, email me at [email protected] for the document (it's nothing fancy).
Grout Family, my son is 27 months old.
Hope that helps! Thank you for the sites and insights you have shared too. I appreciate it.
I am also inspired and excited to use the New Year to implement some new routines for my children. I was fascinated to learn about the routines you are planning to introduce this year.
Thank you for sharing! I have a general routine, but I love adding the pictures so my 2 year old can see what's coming. We also read the Bible together and learn Bible stories, but I never considered giving her time to have her OWN, private Bible time. It's never too early to instill habits like that. I'll have to check out that Bible. Thanks!
It's very cool that you guys have such a great morning routine. I am wanting to establish something like that for my two little ones also. I noticed that we use the same Bible as you do for your son. We love it!