Mondays have been difficult for me for a long time. When I was at uni I had a collection of Garfield stuff up on my wall, and of course a dislike of Mondays is a theme for him. There was a time during my school years that I had an hour-and-a-half long piano lesson at 7am on Mondays. In the end my mum changed that to an afternoon lesson later in the week because weekend were often busy for us: with various church-related things, including going to the 7pm service, which meant we often weren't home before 9.30. The early lesson on Monday was just too hard.
So I have a lot of sympathy for my kids when they struggle to get going on Monday. Hey, I had trouble waking up this morning! One of our boys is responsible for washing up breakfast dishes. In fact I've hardly washed up at breakfast during the week for most of the last six years.
The boy who is currently responsible for this task finds transition difficult. Even the change between weekend and Monday is a challenge for him. I once went with his class on a science museum excursion. It was set up so that the class moved from room to room together. He was the last to leave each room, every single time. This struggle to deal with change has impacted our family profoundly, it even influences how we do home assignments.
So it makes sense that, more often than not, he struggles to get the dishes finished in time to go to school on Mondays.
So much of parenting is about knowing which battles to fight and which ones to let go. This is one that I've pretty much let go, as long as he doesn't leave cleaning up that mess too long after he gets home (unfortunately that is a common problem, but I continue to hope).
What battles do you choose to let go (or at least compromise on) at your house?
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| This is how our son left the kitchen sink this morning. He will finish it off when he gets home from school. By tomorrow he will probably be back "in the game" and get it done in time to rest of the week. |
So I have a lot of sympathy for my kids when they struggle to get going on Monday. Hey, I had trouble waking up this morning! One of our boys is responsible for washing up breakfast dishes. In fact I've hardly washed up at breakfast during the week for most of the last six years.
The boy who is currently responsible for this task finds transition difficult. Even the change between weekend and Monday is a challenge for him. I once went with his class on a science museum excursion. It was set up so that the class moved from room to room together. He was the last to leave each room, every single time. This struggle to deal with change has impacted our family profoundly, it even influences how we do home assignments.
So it makes sense that, more often than not, he struggles to get the dishes finished in time to go to school on Mondays.
So much of parenting is about knowing which battles to fight and which ones to let go. This is one that I've pretty much let go, as long as he doesn't leave cleaning up that mess too long after he gets home (unfortunately that is a common problem, but I continue to hope).
What battles do you choose to let go (or at least compromise on) at your house?
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