Kids: Getting organised

There's so many things that I've found I have to do every week that I never thought that I'd have to do. I've been doing them for nearly 7 years now but I never thought that I would have to have life organised to this degree.

Menu plans, things to do before school, things to do immediately after school, things to do to get ready for bed, what chores need to be done on what day - and whether it's a before school job or an after school one...

I'm sure my childhood wasn't this organised. I know my meals weren't listed up where I could see them every day.

For those of you who don't have kids who need every little thing planned out in advance, some of the lists that I have had to make or my son will seem kind of strange. So a learning opportunity for you - not all children remember everything that they did the day before - even if they have to do the very same things every single day, some of them don't remember from day to day. We have lists so I don't have to repeat myself every single day with the things he has to do. I ask if he's checked his list. Then when that task is done it gets marked off of the list so he knows that he's already done it.

Personally we use a bunch of chore charts that I found online - but forgot to save the links for so I can't share them. We have Before School chores, After School chores and Before Bed chores for both of us, and because he wanted to know what I did all day, there's also a During School chart for me.

We also have meals planned out for 6 weeks in a plastic pocket stapled to the wall so he knows what's for dinner that night.

While we're still getting into the habit of things there's still the "I don't wanna do it Mum" whining - but I can deal with that. It makes him seem like a "normal" (and gods do I hate that word) kid to people outside of our house.

I won't give out our lists, because not every child needs to have a thing on the wall to check off that they're wearing all the correct clothes for school, or that they've brushed their teeth before bed. But the blank charts...

I will hunt down the links for the printables that we use and post them up here for all to share, because they've really helped us, and if they can help just one parent out there to not lose their voice repeating the same thing for 20 minutes a day then they've done their job.