Works For Me Wednesday: Who Goes First?
Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 7:00AM MAD21 By MAD21
Picture, if you will, two sisters going into rest time. They always get a story before having to turn the lights out and be quiet. All of the things that need to be done before retreating to the bedroom get done. All is calm until... "It's MY turn to pick it out!" "NO! It's MYYY turn!" "NO! My turn!" ..... "MOoooOOOOMM!!"
It only takes so many days of this happening before you have no patience left and realize you need to find a better way to help your kids get along, and learn to take turns and share. (And be happy about it-HAHA!) Something needs to happen both for them, and for you.
Our girls are finally both old enough that they can do a lot of the same things, have a lot of opinions, and almost always want to go first or be the one who gets to choose something. I, like any parent, am always on the look out for fun ways to get things done. And this situation is no different.
In our house, our favorite thing to do when a decision has to be made is to play Rock, Paper, Scissors. This, of course, only involves decisions that the kids can be part of. Though, it would be fun to do it when deciding whether or not we clean the house. "Hmm, should we make Daddy do all the laundry?" Rock... well, you get the idea.
I know that it's not a new game, or a new concept. But if it works, it's worth mentioning, right? Our kids love the game, and have (so far) always been happy with the results. Playing a game to help choose who goes first is such a great way to take the pressure off of Mom and Dad. And I'm all for less pressure. And less whining.
Every Wednesday, fellow blogger Kristen at We are THAT Family posts clever ideas for getting things done. She calls it, "Works For Me Wednesday" or WFMW. Be sure to go visit her blog to read her post along with links to other blogs who are participating.
Decisions, Family, Fun, Kids, Works For Me Wednesday in Works For Me Wednesday
Reader Comments (3)
That's a great idea! One that worked for us when our kids were little was to assign each person a day - on a rotating basis - to be first at everything. (It worked particularly well when our fifth child was born and the older kids all wanted to "help" push the stroller.) It also helped with calendar reading skills because that's where the rotation was posted.
Ooo. Cool idea, Becky. I've done individual things (like who gets to choose their yogurt flavor first) that way, but I haven't done it for the whole day. I'll have to try that when this process starts to fail. Always nice to have backup plans. Thanks!
Hi! Just coming over from WFMW.
Oh yes the ancient game of R,P, Scissors!
I love the title of your blog as well.
I just started to read and review The Power of a Praying Parent on my blog today, and I have already been so challenged. One of the tips was to make a personalized list for each of your children, and another was to host a prayer group once or twice a year and pray specifically for children. Anyway, I'd love to have you visit sometime.