Genius idea. . .possibly!

This post may seem a little "off topic" but for me it is not.  Simplifying and stream-lining my life and work has always been a passion of mine and it seemed like a fun idea to share one of these ideas in blog-land!

With the new school year off to a roaring start, I noticed that my children, both girls: Fashionista (9) and Mini-Me (6), were having a terrible time getting ready on time in the morning (without me pushing, prodding and otherwise coaxing them).  In addition to that, they resembled tornadoes upon arriving home in the afternoon.  Over the summer we had gotten away from any semblance of structure, so it was time to brainstorm how to bring order to this chaos. 

This is where the "healthiest me" comes into the picture.  If I am a screaming mess by the time I get them to school, that's not good for anyone.  And if I spent a morning or afternoon picking up and cleaning the house, I'm NOT happy when my kids walk in the door and start leaving a trail of shoes, backpacks, papers, barrettes, socks and lunch bags.  So this is as much about self-care as it is teaching responsibility to my offspring !

In the past, we have used lists to help the girls stay on track.  When they were very little and pre-readers we used pictures that depicted what they were to be doing: making a bed, brushing teeth, etc.  Then we graduated to written lists. The challenge with both types of lists was that they were in one location (in the kitchen on the fridge or whiteboard) so the girls had to run back and forth to check their lists to see what they needed to do next.  While I don't usually enforce a strict 1,2,3 order to their tasks, I think doing it this way does encourage the formation of habit and can very quickly lead to auto-pilot-like behavior. I hoped. . . 

So enter my brainstorming session.  How can I make it easier to check the list?  I had tried putting separate lists in the various rooms where the tasks took place.  

• Kitchen: eat breakfast, take vitamin
• Bedroom: make bed, get dressed
• Bathroom: go potty, wash hands, brush teeth

But that didn't work very well either (in fact, worse then one central list).  So I then the light bulb came one: LANYARDS!  Yes!  I could make lists specific to each daughter and attach it to a lanyard that she would wear until everything was done. 

So I set about finding some.  Fortunately, a friend had some extras laying around at work and was kind enough to let me use 2 of them.  (Thanks, friend!)  

This morning I followed these steps to make my girls' lanyards:

1. Typed up lists for each daughter - for morning and afternoon - giving specific details if necessary (Wednesdays-put library books in your backpack)
2. Cut out, attached to both sides and laminated to 4x6 index cards using packaging tape
3. Clipped lanyards to the cardss

Here's what they look like (I chose index cards in their favorite colors):

Morning list on left, afternoon on right

And if there is something usual that needs to happen, then I can simply attach a sticky note to the card, on the appropriate side.  I'm also going to employ our kitchen whiteboard for various daily tasks for which they are responsible.

I am so excited to see how these in action!  Maybe I'll snap a pic of the Fashionista and Mini-Me using them, and post those later.

Here's to your healthiest self!

~Dawn