This space is to share fun preschool ideas and activities. I am also passionate about children exploring their outdoor surroundings. Thanks for stopping by to see the latest Adventure with the Kerr's!
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Showing posts with label simplify. Show all posts
Showing posts with label simplify. Show all posts

Friday, November 26

Simplify the Holiday Shopping

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I love this time of year when the white snow blankets the trees and houses and there is a peaceful stillness outside.  It's great to cuddle up indoors under warm quilts, drink hot cocoa and listen to your favorite Holiday album. But this peaceful stillness and warm cozy moments turns into a frenzy once the advertisements begin to fill your mailbox and email inbox with the best Black Friday deals.  One step into the store and you see the giant sign stating of how many shopping days are left until Christmas.  All of this advertising makes you feel that you MUST buy, buy, buy and soon because time is running out!  Every toy catalog features the newest, greatest toys of this past year and the special awards earned. You begin thinking that you MUST buy these items or else your child will be disappointed and wish they had different parents. Parents who purchased every single toy featured in the best toys of 2010 catalog.

I will admit that I love good deals and it is fun to shop for new things your children will enjoy but the real question is, "Does my child need more stuff?"

In Simplicity Parenting, pg. 22, "Too much stuff leads to too little time and too little depth in the way kids see and explore their world."

So what stuff do we want to give to our children during this Holiday Season? What is going to help them explore their world? What is going to enhance their imagination? This is a personal question that deems discussion with your partner/family. Some families are committed to only homemade gifts, some ban all toys that need batteries, or some say no to anything plastic. 

A good friend told me that they just focus on 4 gifts for their children: something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read. This framework of 4 gifts I think really helps to eliminate potential stuff that isn't needed. 


Last week my husband and I were at Lowe's (our local hardware store) and I found a child-sized hammer and tool set. I was so excited! "This is the perfect gift for River, he can have his own tools and be a little wood worker just like his Papa," I thought. I quickly hid the tool set as I saw my husband, Eli, come around the corner with the kids. I took Eli aside and showed him the gift I was going to buy strategically so River wouldn't see. To my shock Eli said, "Why don't we just a wait until we know exactly what we are planning on buying." "But Eli CHRISTMAS is COMING! And what if this is not here next week!!" Then it hit me. I was totally engrossed in the "how many shopping days left until Christmas" coma. It took me a few minutes to wake up and realize that Eli and I haven't discussed together what 4 gifts we should purchase for River. Even if the tool set is one of the gifts we decide on I didn't HAVE TO BUY it right then.

So my advice to escape the shopping frenzy is to sit down and make a list together of the items you both think would be best for your children. Once you both have discussed what gifts you will be giving than hopefully you will be buffered from any future I-must-buy-this-now-because- it's-a-good-deal purchases. This way you can avoid buying gifts that are really... just more stuff.







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Thursday, October 28

Weekly rhythm song

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The magic of rhythms is in the process not the particulars.
-Simplicity Parenting, pg. 114


River and Rue my two favorite kids


I have been trying to implement many of the suggestions mentioned in Simplicity Parenting for a few months now. Filtering out the adult world, simplifying the environment we live in, and being aware of over scheduling activities for my children, have been the first steps leading up to the most impacting change of establishing a weekly rhythm in our home.


This was a previous trip to Disneyland.

By nature I am a pretty spontaneous person and the idea of sticking to any kind of predictable routine makes me want to pack up my bags and drive to Disneyland with my kids, just because I can, and no schedule or routine will confine me! When I was pregnant with my first son I heard about these Moms who never went out of the house (for like a year) because their baby HAD to be in their own bed at 7:00pm. I vowed that I would not be like those first time Moms who forgot how to have fun once a child came into their lives. The result...we took my Son River with us everywhere we went and he stayed up later and woke up later than most children his age. When River was three, and Rue was just a few months old, I began thinking there was probably some value in having a bedtime routine, especially because now we have 2 children. However it took my Husband and I a while to be completely invested into any kind of "routine" but we knew having a bedtime routine was a good idea, we just wondered if we would be able to buckle down and do it.


If you come over to our home during bedtime routine you may be
required to put a pull-up on!


The stories and examples mentioned in Simplicity Parenting are so encouraging that I began to realize that creating a rhythm in our home is not about a daily, rigid, routine, where a family must feel confined to do only what is permanent marker-ed in for the day. Instead it is the "process not the particulars", understanding that we are doing (or not doing) things to build a "foundation of cooperation and connection" (pg. 102). Ding, Ding, Ding, I finally got it, I had my epiphany, light bulb moment.  The whole purpose of creating a predictable weekly rhythm is for my son, daughter, husband and I to ENJOY the Sunday morning breakfasts, Monday wash day, or Wednesday cooking day because these consistent this-is what-we-do, can establish trust and a way to feel more connected to each other.

Mr. Baker-man


When I first began to adapt a more concrete weekly routine, the way I was approaching it all was not working for my spontaneous nature. I was focused on the particulars not the process. At the end of the day I was becoming somewhat depressed because I was not able to have the rhythm of the day go like it should and blamed it all on myself.




 

Then it hit me. . . I needed River (and myself + my husband) to have a clear understanding of what each day will look like. River will ask, "Mama what's today? Are the kids coming over or do we go to church?" He understands that we do very specific activities on certain days but really what does Monday, Tuesday or Saturday mean to a four-year-old?  

So as River and Rue were taking a bath one night I wrote this song. I wanted us to have a fun song that we all would enjoy singing each day as a way of previewing for our day/week. I enjoy singing and make up songs often for the preschoolers... but that doesn't mean you will enjoy listening to it : ) This song has been a hit at home and instead of having to tell River that today is Tuesday, because it is Tuesday, we just sing our little weekly rhythm song.
Sunday we wake up to the yummy smell
of Papa making breakfast.
Then we put on our nice clothes and comb our hair
and walk together to church.

Monday we wake up and put our dirty clothes
in the washing machine.
We clean, clean, clean.
We clean up the house
and peddle over to the library.

Tuesday is a school day.
The kids come over to play, play, play.
We find little treasures and make cool things.
We play outside and sing.

Wednesday we wake up we know it's gonna  be
a cooking day.
We might knead some bread or make some applesauce
and eat a really yummy treat.

Thursday is a school day.
The kids come over to play, play, play.
We find little treasures and make cool things.
We play outside and sing.

Friday we wake up and get ready
for our exciting field trip.
We might go to the park or see a new place
and do some adventuring.

Saturday we sleep in.
(zzz chooo)
We wrestle each other other.
(Woo-hoo)
We go to the store.
(Yum, yum)
Then at the end of our day,
we rest from our play,
because tomorrow is Sunday.

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Wednesday, August 18

Simplify your surroundings

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I wanted to talk about something I have been noticing the past few months....how simplifying your surroundings can make you happier! One of my new favorite books (well it's been my favorite for a while) is Simplicity Parenting written by Kim John Payne has really influenced me in how I live and how the enviroment I create for my children(and preschoolers) makes a difference.

Let me now take you back about 9 years ago....I was a young, spontaneous, independent, happy to be out of the house, just graduated high schooler.  Toward the end of that first year I remember that my room was sooo messy I was sleeping on the couch in the front room. I would clean up my mess every where else in the apartment except for my room. 

Looking back on this experience let me tell you what I learned:
*I didn't want to deal with the consequences I was making in my life. (Not ready to clean up.)
*I respected others (by cleaning up my mess in other places) but not myself.
*I began to see that I develop ADD when there is a mess. Instead of hitting the problem straight on, I run around cleaning everything else up except for the major part.


Ok, now fast forward to the present. As I have become a Mom cleaning up after your child is part of your everyday, this-is-what-I-do routine. In addition to cleaning up after 2 children there are the household chores of cleaning. Just recently (like the last 2 months) I have began to see how important it is for children and for myself to organize, reduce, and keep your area tidy.


In the book Simplicity Parenting, pg. 67, he says, "If you give a child less and less complexity, they become more interested, and this cultivates true powers of attention." Not only does this simple statement apply to children but also adults!

Let my tell you what I have learned about the environment we live in and play in:
*When the house is clean and in order my son is WILLING  to put his things away when he gets them out. If we already have a big mess out and there is too much stuff everywhere he won't do it.
*When the house is clean I am sane! I can focus and therefore be productive, which means I feel better about myself.

The whole point of me writing about this that I used to be really bad at having a house that was in order and subsequently my ADD would be sky high. I would feel so overwhelmed I wouldn't know where to start. After reading Simplicity Parenting, I have realized that MORE=MESS, we do not need more to be happy, and stuff is still stuff. The less stuff we have around the easier it is to organize. When my surroundings are in order my mind/emotions are more in order which makes me a happier me!




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