Table of Contents- Prologue

  So today I am going to unveil why and some rules of our "Table of Contents."  I am hoping that this will help you as much as it will help me.  So here goes.

  Our lives are hectic, as I am sure most of yours are.  Let me just set up a day in the life of our family.  Usually starts with Mr. coming home in the wee hours of the morning.  I mean like 5:30 ish.  He works mid-nights and this takes a toll on us.  I work outside of the home at an animal clinic part time so I can be home with Birdie and still have some wiggle room in our budget, which is still very tight.  So on the days that I work, Mr. Mid-nights "watches" G.  I use the term "watches" loosely because I know he is exhausted at the end of his shift and still tries to engage a VERY BUSY four-year-old. We decide to have daddy watch her because of the money involved in daycare.  So in the quest to keep her out of things and let daddy rest, I decided to give quiet/busy bags a try.  They were well received by both parties. 

  So then, one night out of shear exhaustion I didn't want to pack the quiet bags for the next day.  I was lazy. (Hey it happens!)  I decided to just leave the activities out on the table so they could be seen first thing in the morning.  I then thought it wouldn't take much time to put time limits and directions on all of these things with post-it's.  The next day every spare moment I was thinking of activities to add to the table.  I came up with a master list of activities and snacks that were self contained and easy for a four-year-old to use independently.  I plan on sharing this list in a few entries.  

  So the rules of the game are pretty simple.  Breakfast first, her choice between two options and fruit of some kind.  Then we start with activities.  She gets to pick.  I feel that it gives her some independence and it makes for an organized day.  Also brings a little freedom to daddy when I work.  She does get TV time.  We are trying to cut down the amount of TV she gets, but it is still a fair amount unfortunately.  So she gets 5 TV tickets a day, she is able to redeem them when she wants them and when it is convenient for us.  She is also able to save them to use on a movie. She has to give up two TV ticket to watch a movie.  Also she is able to play with things longer if she plays nicely and quietly.  

  G Bird is loving this table of contents idea so I am sure there will be many more to come.  I just wanted to give a brief background on what compelled me to take this on and I will, like I said post more of the good stuff later.

Until then...

Wen