Last week I noted in the Letting children do it for themselves post, that I was going to work at banishing the “clean up fairy” in my house. I am pleased to say that I have made significant progress towards this goal.

At our Family Meeting (FM) last week, I raised the issue of children’s jobs we allocated new tasks to all kids. We all had input on this issue and came up with a list of jobs for each child. They have been carrying out their new responsibilities ever since (albeit only a few days!). To give you a better idea of how we did this, I will give you some background on what our whole FM process is about.

PURPOSE OF OUR FAMILY MEETINGS

• To provide a communication strategy to deal with contentious issues.
• To create a forum where all voices are equal.
• A place to jointly plan activities and areas of home life.
• To role mode and offer opportunities for the kids to practice decision making, negotiation and problem solving skills.
• To create a sense of ownership of family decisions.

OUR FAMILY MEETING GUIDELINES

Time: It has a regular time and day. We choose late Sunday afternoons, as this is a time when we are all most likely to be at home.

Place: For a while we used to have the meetings on the floor in the sitting room, however we have moved to having them at the dinner table. This location has worked much better as the children are sitting up straight and there are less distractions around them.

Attendees: All family members are expected to attend. If someone cannot come due to another activity, then the meeting can still go ahead and they can give their input prior to the meeting. There are times when a child may state that they do not want to come to the FM. I simply remind them that it is their decision as to whether they participate or not, but they will still have to abide by the outcomes of the FM. They usually change their mind then and decide to come.

Rotating Convenor: Everyone has the opportunity to convene the meeting as it is rotated amongst all family members. At this stage Babaganouski does not actively participate in the FM, so he does not have a go. Our 4 year old Possum has a turn and is assisted by mum or dad.

Minutes: Minutes are taken at each meeting and are always reviewed as first agenda item in FM. The minutes are very helpful if we have to clarify decisions and it also puts accountability back on mum and dad. If we agreed to certain things, then the children can hold us to account on it. For example when we decided on what we wanted to do over the school holidays (see Planned Holiday Activities for the Children), we reviewed those items a number of times to ensure that I had coordinated or organised the agreed upon events.

Time Frame: Due to the age of the children participating, we aim to have the meeting go for no more than 20 minutes. Their attention and enthusiasm wanes dramatically if we go past this point.

Raised Hand: Everyone must raise their hand and be acknowledged by the convenor before they can speak.

Consensus Decision Making: In brief this means that we must keep working on a resolution until we have one that all family members can agree to. This is critical to the success of our FM. No one should leave the FM feeling that they have not been listened to or their needs have not been taken into consideration. This does not mean kids get exactly what they want, it actually teaches them about compromise and that sometimes to get agreement they have to make some concessions. It also teaches them to work out what are the key points they must have and teaches them to use persuasive arguments.

Agenda Items: Although we use a formal structure for the FM, they are generally light hearted and fun. They are not allowed to degenerate to a complaining session. When raising an item, the family member is expected to state the problem (if there is one) and then put forward a solution proposal for discussion.
Quite often the meeting is just more of a sharing time, where kids or adults provide updates to the family on areas of their life or items of interest (eg Collingwood’s great win on the weekend, dad will be in Sydney for two day next week etc.)However, when there are items that will require some negotiation and discussion, I will give the children advance notice that I will be bringing it up at the next FM.

The last point leads me back to moving to get rid of the “cleaning fairy” by allocating new jobs to the children. After writing the post on Friday, I informed all family members that I would be raising this issue at the upcoming FM. I suggested that they give some thought to the jobs that they are capable of doing and might like to do. I did this, because as I was going to be coming to the meeting with a defined proposal, they also needed time to mull over the idea.

The amazing thing was that at the FM, with the exception of one or two small things, the kids suggestions (we went through theirs first), matched up with my own! There was then some minor negotiation on a couple of jobs, but consensus was achieved quite quickly.

Below I have listed their existing jobs, along with their new ones which are in bold.

Thinker (aged 9)
Morning: Make bed, tidy bedroom, clear own breakfast dishes, stack every ones breakfast dishes into dishwasher, pack own school bag.
Afternoon: Lunchbox and notices out of bag, empty compost bucket (as required)
Dinner: Make drinks, clear own plate
After bath: dirty clothes in laundry basket, towel hung up in bathroom, share in the general tidy session before he can move to allocated TV/PC time.
Extra Weekend Job: Sort dirty washing and put on one load.

Little Rascal (aged 6)
Morning: Make bed, tidy bedroom, clear own breakfast dishes, return juice and milk to the fridge, pack own school bag.
Afternoon: Lunchbox and notices out of bag, empty kitchen bin and clean up dog poo (as required)
Dinner: Set place mats, clear own plate
After bath: dirty clothes in laundry basket, towel hung up in bathroom, share in the general tidy session before he can move to allocated TV/PC time.
Extra Weekend Job: Sort clean washing into piles (at least one load).

Possum (aged 4)
Morning: Make bed, tidy bedroom, clear own own breakfast dishes, return cereal boxes to the cupboard, pack own kinder bag
Afternoon: Lunchbox and drink bottle out of bag,
Dinner: Set cutlery, clear own plate
After bath: dirty clothes in laundry basket, towel back to bathroom, share in the general tidy session before she can move to allocated TV/PC time.
Extra Weekend Job: Assist mum with folding the washing (at least one load).

Babaganouski (21 months)
These tasks are directed and someti
mes assisted, but he generally likes to help out like everyone else.
Dinner: put sauces and other condiments on the table (as required)
After bath: dirty washing in laundry basket, take towel back to the bathroom,

How have you gone? Made any changes to the way things are run in your house?

PS. Little Rascal actually volunteered for the job of picking up the dog poo!

Technorati Tags: Children's Activities, parenting

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These are 10 things that I do that make my life easier in the morning when I want everyone organised. Doing these things helps at any time, but even more so when we are in “back to school” mode and adjusting to new routines.

(1). Set bedtime.
Having an age appropriate bed time for the kids, means they get the sleep they need to actually wake up of their on accord and are refreshed for school. They wake up happier and are easier to manage.

(2). Table set for breakfast.
We have the table set for breakfast, including the cereal boxes on the table before we go to bed at night. Dad is usually the first to have breakfast and will put the juice and milk on the table. As the children wake at different times, this enables them to easily serve themselves.

(3). Lunch box preparation.
I have the lunch boxes set out on the bench and will put in any items that are non perishable in the night before. For example, I will put crackers in resealable plastic bags in to the boxes, but fruit like watermelon that I cut up and salad sandwiches I will do in the morning.

(4). Clothes preparation.
I don’t lay the clothes out for the children, but do ensure that they are in the right spots for the children to access them themselves.

(5). Key time markers.
We have key times across the morning at which certain activities need to occur. At (or before) 7.30am children need to brush their teeth, put on sunscreen and then get themselves dressed. We leave the house at 8.05am, so everyone has to be completely ready by then.
As only the eldest two can read the time, I will let the preschooler know what the time is and she can work out what she needs to do. I find that this prevents me from having to nag. They are all aware of what is required for us to leave the house on time, and the responsibility also sits with them to ensure we achieve this.

(6). Children take away their breakfast dishes from table.
Each child is responsible (except for the toddler just yet) for taking their dishes from the table tot he kitchen bench. The remaining items are then cleared dishwasher stacked by the older two children.
This is then one less thing that I have to do and therefore I am not as rushed. It also helps them understand that we all have to work together to keep the house tidy. This task and the next two require the children doing things for themselves. I find it is much easier for them to concentrate on these, if their are no distractions like TV or computer to deal with.

(7). Children make beds and tidy their room.
As per above. Also since we have been doing this, I have found that the room stays tidier in the first place, as they don’t enjoy spending large amounts of time doing this task.

(8). Children pack their bags.
This goes for the oldest three. It is their responsibility to ensure they have their lunchbox, hat etc, all the things that they need for their day at school. I find this helpful in training them to keep their possessions organised. If they have left their hat at home because they left it in the bedroom, instead of putting it back in their bag, they will have to accept the consequences of this. (At our school, no hat means that they cannot play out in the sun during terms 1 and 4.)

(9). Walk to school.
This is not possible for everyone, but I find that this is less stressful than packing all the children in the car, finding a park, getting them out etc. It also provides a lovely opportunity to chat and play games as we walk along.

(10). Keep Calm.
This is probably the hardest one of these to do sometimes, but even when they are infuriating me, I find if I try to calmly deal with the situation, (as opposed to ranting and raving at them!) that it has much less chance of escalating or snowballing into more issues.

Any tips on what you do to make school mornings pleasant and a great start to your day?

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This week I am trying a couple of new recipes that I found from checking out other folk’s meal plans at I’m an Organizing Junkie. Each week Laura hosts Menu Plan Monday and people put a link to their meal plan on her website.

Last week 242 people shared their meal plans. Lots of the contributors are mums, so the recipes are very family friendly and looking at what others are cooking up provides great inspiration for what I might like to cook.

I have included a recipe of my own below, that I actually made last week - Mexibake. I had a number of people asked about this one.

Monday: Spinach and Pumpkin Dahl served with rice and poppadoms.
This is from Bonnie who is another Aussie menu planner.

Tuesday: Spaghetti Bolognaise
Easy Banana Cake (Recipe at the end)

Wednesday: Beef Stir Fry with Singapore Noodles

Thursday: Fried Rice (requested as always by Little Rascal)

Friday: Healthy Macaroni Cheese
This is from another queen - Organising Queen in South Africa.

Saturday: It is our 11th wedding anniversary, so the adults of the house will be going out for dinner and the children will have what ever their beautiful aunt cooks for them.

Sunday: Sausage sand Steamed Vegetables

Mexibake

Ingredients:
500 grams beef mince (ground beef)
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 red capsicum, finely chopped
1 green capsicum, finely chopped
2 carrots grated
olive oil
410 grams tinned tomatoes - chopped thoroughly
1 packet Taco Seasoning Mix
500 mls pasta sauce
600 mls sour cream
2 cups grated cheese
Approx 1.5 cups rice
1 -2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

Instructions:
(1). Preheat oven to a moderate heat (approx 180)
(2). I say approx 1.5 cups of rice, because I use a rice cooker, of which i use 4 of their measuring cups of rice for this recipe. Once I have added the water to the rice, I add the cayenne pepper and mix gently, so the rice is slightly spiced.
(3). Heat oil in large frying pan. Once at a medium heat fry onion for a few minutes until soft.
(4). Add meat to the pan and brown meat, ensuring that it is completely broken up.
(5). Once meat is cooked, stir in capsicums and carrot. Cook for few minutes until temperature has reached medium again.
(6). Add tomatoes and stir well.
(7). Add pasta sauce and stir well.
(8). Add taco seasoning and mix well.
(9). Let simmer for about 15 minutes.
(10). In a lasagna dish, spread rice on the bottom of the dish, until is a just under halfway. Don’t press the rice firmly in, as it will then stick to the bottom.
(11). Spread the meat mixture on top of the rice.
(12). Spread sour cream on top of meat mixture. I have found it easier to spread the sour cream, if I place it in a bowl and stir it up with a fork.
(13). Sprinkle cheese over sour cream.
(14). Cover with aluminium foil and bake int he oven for 45 minutes.
(15). About 5- 10 minutes before cooking time ends, take foil off and allow the cheese to go golden on top.

Easy Banana Cake
I love this recipe because it is one of those that you just throw all the ingredients into a bowl and mix. It also makes a very large cake, which still stays moist a number of days after its cooked.

Ingredients:
250ml vegetable oil
1.5 cups caster sugar
4 eggs
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons self raising flour, sifted with 1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda (baking powder)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
5 medium bananas peeled and mashed

Instructions:
(1). Preheat oven to a moderate temp. (about 170 or so)
(2). throw all the ingredients into a bowl and mix with electric beater for 4- 5 minutes. Ensure the mixture is well combined.
(3). Bake it the oven for 1 - 1.25 hours or until a skewer comes out clean.
(4) Let the cake sit in the tin for 5- 10 minutes before cooling on a rack.

Have a great week and for those of you with children heading back to school, I hope you have a smooth transition into the school year.

Technorati Tags: Menu Planning, Recipes

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“Back to school” is almost here and it has started me thinking about how the pace of our leisurely “school holiday” days will change very soon. Once the school term starts there are many activities to fit in across the week for the kids, meetings to attend and general household up keep. It does become quite a juggling act and where does time for mum come in this equation?

BURNT CHOP
Back in my early corporate days I attended a Springboard workshop for women. This would be at least 12 years ago now, and there is only vague memories of the workshop, with the exception of an analogy that the trainer made. She said that mothers tended to always give themselves the “burnt chop’. That is , the mother would put everyone elses needs above hers and have what was left. Although the thought of having children was nowhere in my head at this stage, the statement resonated with me, because this was exactly what my lovely mother did and the majority of my friends’ mothers as well.

I have to admit that there have been (too many) instances where I have forgone things that I would have liked to have done, in order that we fitted everything else in for the family. But since I have implemented my simple planning approach across most of our family life, I have found that this happens much less often.

This may come across as if I am being a little bit self centred, but in reality looking after myself is beneficial to the family. I find that the mood of the house tends to revolve around my mood. If I am tired, snitchy or lacking in energy, the kids will often feed off this and there is more bickering amongst them; if I ask them to do something there is more resistance; and they can find it difficult to amuse themselves. Making the time to look after myself can prevent these scenarios.

WHY TIME FOR MUM IS SO IMPORTANT
It is to the benefit of my family that I have time for me. For example, my 3 sessions at the gym a week. I don’t have set days that I go to, but the family all works towards me getting to the gym 3 times a week.

There are direct benefits for me in this being achieved and an indirect benefits to the family in the following ways:

It makes me less cranky.
I can be very grumpy when I leave the house, but after the endorphins kick in on the treadmill, I begin to feel much happier and bring this mood home with me.
I sleep better.
Very similar to above, the better I sleep, the less tired and cranky I am.
Gives me more energy
Running around with the 4 kids can get pretty tiring, I find regular exercise gives me stamina.
I have some time to just have my own thoughts.
I put on my MP3 player and I don’t have to answer any questions or worry about the needs of others for that hour!

Basically when I go to the gym, I come back refreshed and happier to spend time with everyone. Going to the gym is not the only way I can do this. Socialising and adult activities have a similar effect on my mood. I make sure that I schedule time for these activities and although it may only be once a quarter, when combined they give my life the variety I need to stay healthy, happy and sane. These are the most important ones that I make sure I plan for:

For dearest and I to go out together.
It is lovely to just have some time for us where we can connect together outside the home.
See my friends without the children around.
Two of dearest friends in Melbourne also have children and we catch up regularly during the day and the 9 kids love to play together. But we don’t have many uninterrupted conversations, so we make sure that every few months, we have a night together where we can talk uninterrupted. (This is also the case with my lovely 3 sisters and other groups of friends.)
Non child related activity.
I love my children dearly, but I do not want to be one dimensional, having a non child related activity (in my case politics) makes my brain to think in different ways and I can become exposed to new thoughts and ideas.

Like most things in life, this is a work in progress and sometimes I plan well and get the balance right. Sometimes the unplanned rears its head and things get out of kilter. But by valuing these activities enough to schedule them, I have a much greater chance of looking after me and therefore taking better care of my family.

Technorati Tags: life balance, mum

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NB. I have tried numerous times through out the day to upload the photos and video of our outing and have not been successful, I think blogger/my PC is having an issue. I will try again tomorrow.

Yesterday I took the kids into the city, to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) which is located at Federation Square. We went to take part in an animation workshop which we had short listed as one of the school holiday activities that we wanted to do.

It was a fantastic experience. The children were each given a bag with coloured modelling clay and a place at table, which had photo instructions of how to model a penguin. The kids didn’t have to make a penguin, so little Rascal decided to make a spider and a fly. Babaganouski was more interested in just squishing the clay, but we managed to make a small penguin with what remained of his clay.

Once we had made our characters, we then were assisted by the lovely and patient Kate, who helped the children organise their characters on the set. The kids then developed a short story line, from which Kate then directed the children on how to slightly move each character between shots. Every one except Babagansouki had a turn at this and the kids followed Kate’s instructions intently. Kate used a video cam and laptop to take the photos.

Once the scene was finished, Kate did a few steps on the laptop and then looped the sequence and showed the kids animation on the big screen. The kids looked so proud of themselves and thought their animation was very amusing. I was able to video the laptop screen, so I can show you what they made.

On the way home the kids all agreed that the workshop had been their favourite activity of the holidays. (I need also to mention that this was completely free!!!)It was also great to see the kids get an understanding of the process behind this type of animation. It took us 10 - 15 minutes to come up with 4 seconds of screen time.

PS. Whilst we were in at Federation Square we also went to the National gallery of Victoria and saw the Yvonne Audette exhibition, which I had planned to see last Sunday. After enjoying the exhibition the children then had the chance to make their own Yvonne Audette inspired collage at the ArtCart in the foyer of the gallery.

Technorati Tags: Children's Activities, holidays

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“This is one of those parenting tasks that are difficult for most of us. But the benefits are great. Perhaps the most wonderful payoff in allowing your child to master life through age-appropriate tasks and skills comes from the boost to his self-esteem. The more capable a child is, the more confident the child will become. With confidence, and a full repertoire of important life skills, comes a stronger, more positive self-mage that will enable your child to take on whatever life imposes.”

The above quote comes from an article called Hamburger: The Importance of Teaching Children to Do for Themselves. It was a great refresher for me on why even though it can take a lot longer sometimes, if one of the kids can do a task for themselves, I should let them do it. In the long run the benefit to me and the child are immense.

The article is an excerpt from a book by Elizabeth Pantley, titled Hidden Messages: What Our Words and Actions are Really Telling Our Children. The excerpt looks at what the hidden message is, that we send to our kids when we do things for them, when they are actually capable of doing them for themselves.

“Every single time you pick up a dirty sock, a used tissue, a crusty cereal bowl or a misplaced toy-every time you do this- you teach your child to believe in the “cleanup fairy.” ”

Personally I don’t want my children to believe in the “cleanup fairy”. There are certain tasks my children already do, but there are many more that they are capable of doing. It may require some adjustment to my processes and some investment in time, but I am going to teach the kids some new tasks and completely debunk the myth of the “cleanup fairy” in our house.

I have included some additional links on the issue of encouraging independence in children, that I am going to use to help me do the debunking and hopefully you might find them find useful as well:

The Language of Learned Helplessness Quiz
Makes you look at the type of language you use when you are talking to your children.

Raising an Independent Child
Tips on how to do this with your child.

Kids and Chores
Includes suggestions of appropriate tasks for each age group.

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• Consistent time for our evening meals.
• Variety in what we eat.
• A healthy and balanced diet.
• Only have to go to the supermarket/market once a week.
• Waste very little food, as it is used within its use by date.
• Less stress as there is no last minute rush to think about what we will eat.

IMPORTANCE OF SHARED MEAL TIME

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With only a little over a week left for those of us on Victorian school holidays, I wrote myself a list of things that I need to do before the kids start back at school. This is not a list about all the exciting activities I must do with the kids before the holidays are over, but some pretty mundane tasks that should hopefully allow for a smoother start to the school term:

(1). Check all uniforms for sizing and do some stain removal.
By the end of term 4 last year, we were so busy that the uniforms were just washed, ironed and put away. I know that there are stains on some of the shirts that will come out with a good soaking or scrub.

(2). Check shoes for sizing and polish them.
It is amazing how much feet can grow in six weeks! This goes for socks as well - also checking that they are all paired up correctly and that there are enough.

(3). Check that we have all the required stationery.
We order most things through the school supplier, but we had to get a couple of extra items (see shopping expedition last week). The All for Women website has compiled a great list of stores back to school specials and references for lunch box ideas.

(4). Check all lunch boxes and drink bottles are accounted for and in working order.

(5). Ease our way back into our standard bed times and morning routines.
I love the freedom and flexibility that school holidays allows with later nights and then later mornings. However these are not particular helpful in getting us all out the door happily and on time for school.

(6).Label all books, pencils etc.
This is something I like the school boys to do themselves. I can have them with me in the study while I am on the laptop, and they can work away at this task and I can assist were necessary.

(7). Make play dough.
Our school requires each child to take a container of play dough to school which is used for rainy days. I prefer to make it myself for two reasons, firstly it is cheaper and secondly the kids like to help and we make a new batch for home. I use the recipe on the packet from McKenzies cream of tartar which can be found on their website in the cooking tips section.

(8). Paper work.
I have personal detail forms for Possum’s kinder; comments sheet to complete from the boys’ end of year reports and some registration papers for a toddler program for Babaganouski.

(9). Restock the grocery and baking cupboards.
We tend to have different morning and afternoon tea snacks, than what the children would necessarily take as snacks in their lunch boxes. I also tend to bake more during school terms, so I need to make sure I have all the essential ingredients on hand.

(10). Spend a day just hanging with the kids.
I like to have a whole day where I follow the lead of the kids, don’t look at the clock, don’t go on the computer and don’t answer the phone (until they are in bed!). It is a nice way to end the holidays.

Any other suggestions for preparing for the return to school?

Technorati Tags: Children's Activities, parenting, School holidays

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When I put together for the plan for the family, I try to think about the ingredients that I am using and how to use it in another meal if I won’t be using the entire amount of that perishable ingredient. For example yesterday we had Chicken Schnitzel and salad, from which I still half a cucumber, half a stick of celery etc., so I have planned to have a salad again with our meal on Monday night.

When we have these types of meals which come with salad, we do them as a self serve style meal which the children love. They receive a plate with their meat on it and then the salad is individually placed in portions on a platter on the table. The children can choose what else they would like to put on their plate. They know they should select a variety of food from the platters and they all do this pretty successfully, with the exception of Babaganouski who can’t seem to expand past grated carrot and slices of beetroot at the moment.

With all that said, here is our plan for this week:

Monday: Sausage and Salad

Tuesday: Spicy Chutney Chicken with Rice

Wednesday: Fish and Steamed Vegetables
Baking - Chocolate Balls (See recipe below)

Thursday: Mexibake

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Lamb chops with ratatouille (See recipe below)

Sunday: Roast Vegetable Lasagna

Lamb chops with ratatouille and rice (Serves 2 adults and 4 children)
The original recipe for this dish actually puts the cooked chops in with the ratatouille and simmers for a while. However this did not go down well with either the partner or the children, who prefer their chops less “soggy”. So I now serve the ratatouille on the side with rice, so their chops can stay nice and dry.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
14 lamb chops
1 large brown onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large zucchini, chopped
1 large capsicum red, chopped
large capsicum green, chopped
1 large capsicum yellow, chopped
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons oregano leaves
1.5 cups rice

Instructions:
(1). Put rice on to cook by your desired method.
(2). Heat oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat.
(3). Cook onion and garlic for a few minutes until the onion is soft.
(4). Add capsicums to the pan, stirring for minute and then pour in tomatoes.
(5). Cover and simmer gently for about 10 – 15 minutes.
(6). Cook lamb chops by desired method. I tend to do ours outeise on the BBQ as I like the flavour and also find cooking outside with the kids is much more pleasant.
(7). Stir oregano through ratatouille and season with salt and pepper.
(8). Place rice in a circle on plate and spoon ratatouille over rice. Add chops to plate and serve.

Chocolate Balls
This is a very old school favourite in this house. I am sure that there are many variations on this treat, but this a very simply recipe that even the kids can do.

Ingredients:
1 packet Marie biscuits1 tin condensed milk
1 – 2 tablespoons cocoaApprox 2 cups of desiccated coconut (never actually measured how much we use, maybe just start with 1, and then pour more as you need it.)

Instructions:
(1). Place Marie biscuits into a plastic bag (out of the packet) and then crush with a rolling pin.(2). Once to a consistent texture pour into a medium size bowl.
(3). Add cocoa and stir.
(4). Pour in condensed milk and combine thoroughly.
(5). Pour coconut into a shallow bowl.
(6). Using a tablespoon of mixture, roll into ball then drop into coconut and cover completely. (7). Place chocolate bowl into a container and continue making balls until you have used all the mixture.
(8). Place in an airtight container in the fridge until set.
(9). They are kept best in the fridge even once set.

I would love to hear of any variations that you might have to the chocolate ball recipe I use.

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When the littlest one did wake up , I got him ready and went outside to find the others. They were playing in the street with the neighbours children and some of their friends. We live at the bottom of a hill and the kids love it as they get on their scooters, trikes, bikes and come down the hill at a “horrifying for mum to watch” pace. They were having such a good time and this was the first time they had seen the neighbours as they had been away most of the holidays.

I really wanted to check out the exhibition, but they looked so happy trying new tricks and making up their own games. So adhering to a Montessori influenced philosophy of “follow the child” which I like to use with the kids, I asked the the 3 older children what they would prefer to do. Thankfully it was unanimous and they all wanted to stay home and play outside.

So now with this change of plan, I am sitting outside with my laptop and watching (and shuddering) as the kids fly down the hill and enjoying their antics. On top of this, now I as have finished this post I will also get to talk to my other half who is completing his project for the front garden and enjoy some uninterrupted conversation. It is the simple things that makes one happy!

Technorati Tags: Children's Activities, parenting

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