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Picture Schedules for Young Children Help Mummy
Dear Holly,
Maybe this a given but I just have to share. My kids are 5, 3, and one year old. The oldest since he was born has needed structure. He has always asked what we are doing next, even before I read MRoL. I have had a rule for almost 3 years now and lately I made a picture schedule(chart) for the kids. It has the hour in one column and each child (not the one year old) has their own column. It has made my life amazingly different. They aren't agruing about helping and everything is going so much easier. I asked my son why and he said, "I know I can go play next so I will help now,." even though I used to tell him that!! I guess now that he can see it, he really believes me. Anyway, I thought I would share because I thought the kids were a few years off from needing to see their parts in this.
Labels: 4th P Parent, About a Rule of Life
posted by Holly at 2:55 PM
3 Comments:
I thought that was a lovely idea, and a good witness to the picture chart's effectiveness.
I have always used pictures for younger children, even way back when I substituted for a Grade 1 class in school - I always felt that pictures helped lessen the amount of time Mummy (or teacher) has to speak of mundane things, and it provides a strange type of 'authority' to support Mummy's requests: "Look, it's chore time because it's right here on the schedule!"
(One Mum I know put the schedule out of sight of the children because it had such a powerful effect in her family that the kids wouldn't act outside of the proscribed list! If it wasn't lunch at noon, her daughter had anxiety! (And in this case, yes, put it away :-) - inside the cupboard, not in the garbage)
But generally, a written or pictorial list is a great help. It objectifies chores and makes it seem less like Mummy 'bossing me around".
As a teacher I knew once said, "I write basic instructions on the chalkboard so that, by the time I speak, the kids aren't tired of listening to me." Wise move.
Picture charts just make the benefits of a written schedule accessible to younger children too, as this MROL reader illustrates.
The site www.dotolearn.com has pictures you can download and turn into a schedule. I'm going to try this with my two and a half year old, although since my rule is so new, it will help me as well (especially with the morning routine before the coffee kicks in)
Ok, so it was me who wrote the first part of this to Holly and I have to say I just laminated all the pictures on the chart and put velcro on the back so i could move them around day by day becuase we haven't been too consistent as of late. We are really excited about having a chart now that I can actually make look like the real day and not just tell them what is suppose to be there.
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