I've always considered myself a problem solver. I think it's why I was so drawn to Law Enforcement. I get to solve lots and lots of problems! Other people's problems! Wooohooo! Except of course, the people whose problems you are trying to solve usually don't want your help but hey, as a rookie, I was very idealistic and truly believed I could save the world.
Regardless, that innate desire to solve problems rather than sit around and complain about them never went away. It seems every time I am faced with a problem my first thought is: "OK, how can I fix this?"
Ever since starting back school after the the Christmas break, it's been getting harder and harder to get the kids ready in the morning. Mornings are rough. NONE of us are morning people (except Kooper....sigh) and we are all mildly unpleasant at 7 am. Actually, honestly, we are all total cranky pants in the morning. And I have very little time to get two kids, one puppy and one mommy out the door. So, mornings were fraught with whining and crying and tantrums. Most of it from the kids. Hahahahahaha. :)
I do as much as I can the night before, I have their clothes laid out, their lunches packed and the breakfast stuff all laid out ready to go. Still, mornings have gone from bad to worse lately. I thought about it and realized that the biggest issue was that the kids had little motivation to get out of their warm, cozy beds and get ready for a long day at school. I can't change the fact that we would rather be sleeping in til 8 am (or later) or that mornings are a hectic flurry of activity. But I figured I could introduce a REASON to want to get up.
I needed something that wouldn't cost a penny, would be a good motivator for BOTH kids, and not be a huge investment of my time at night when I've already got enough on my plate to deal with. And thus was born the idea of the "Morning Message Board." Yes, we like to name things in our family, can you tell?
So, every night, before crashing into bed myself, I take literally TWO MINUTES to write a morning message to the kids on their art white board (purchased at Ikea many years ago). It's usually a simple message that greets them, lets them know what the day has in store and reminds them how much I love them. Something cheery and happy.
And it TOTALLY WORKS. At least for now it does. I'm sure it will eventually grow old. But right now, it's saving my mornings. Or at least, partially saving them. There's a whole lot less dragging of the feet when it comes to getting dressed and coming downstairs to see the message. Ellie can generally read most of it on her own and the parts she can't read, Gavin helps her out with. I also add little mini pictures to illustrate the sentence a bit and help her out.
Has it eliminated the whining, arguing, crying, fighting, tantrumy outbursts completely? Heck no. But it's gotten their little butts downstairs without ANY of my usual harping on them to GET>OUT>OF>BED>FOR>THE>HUNDREDTH>TIME stuff I had to do in the past.
Here's this mornings display. Like I said, it didn't make mornings suddenly blissful from beginning to end but it sure did help. And I'll take anything I can get! :)
