It’s #Thrive Thursday today! At least as of 7:38pm PST it’s still #Thrive Thursday. If you are homeschooling your kids, tomorrow could be a very “interesting” day trying to get them to finish their homework ahead of the long weekend. This assumes you are keeping them to a schedule and didn’t make life more stressful for them by allowing everything to hit the fan when the crisis told us all to stay home. Routine grounds a person and helps them feel like not everything is flipping upside down, that some things are capable of staying the same. The more normal and routine you are able to maintain during upheavals like the one we’re all living through right now, the less acting out you’ll see with your kids in general. Remember that children act out for various reasons and one of them is when they can’t find the boundaries that stick. If there are no firm boundaries, they feel like they are floundering and that is a threat to their security and sense of safety, so they will act out worse and worse until they find the boundary that doesn’t move. They will then test that boundary for awhile to be certain it doesn’t move, and then settle down. They are safe now and their sense of security is restored.
Helping your child find your boundaries can be nerve-wracking on your end, I get it. I had two young children of my own. But if you can develop the fortitude to stand your ground and not give in because the going got tough for awhile, you will do yourself and your children a world of good. But as I already discussed in another article here, you need to establish boundaries you won’t waiver on, boundaries that don’t give in very often. Bedtimes, bath times, putting toys away, washing hands before dinner, wake times, meal times, these are examples of routines that don’t need to change when life throws us for a loop. Maintaining these routines tells us subconsciously that there is something to stay grounded with.
This is a Biblical concept where we see Christ telling the parable of the wise man who built his house on the rock and the foolish who built is house on sand. Shifting sand gets blown away in dry weather and washed away in rough seas and anything on it gets washed away with it. But bedrock doesn’t move in dry winds or high seas.
Matthew 7:24-27 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
[bctt tweet=”Help your #children #regain their sense of #safety and #security by insisting as many usual #routines stay the same as possible.” username=”songdovemd”] If you’ve never homeschooled your kids before, finding that rythm will be challenging, but when you do find an hour that works here and an hour that works there, stick to it. Sticking to those time frames teaches persistence, commitment, and follow-through, particularly the day before a holiday!
You might remember your own days as a child in school when the teacher announced no school on Monday and all you wanted to do was run home, tug on Mom or Dad’s sleeve and beg to go camping out by your favourite spot. Or perhaps long weekends were the only time you would get to go visit your aunt who kept horses, or make a weekend trip to the family cottage. Do you remember how hard it was to focus on your schoolwork that day??? But did you get your assignments handed in anyway? Chances are that yes, you did. Your report card depended on it and your children’s report card now also depends on it.
But why am I spending so much time talking about routine and schoolwork and a long weekend when most of us may still be stuck at home this weekend??!! The reason is simple. I want to encourage you to take Monday as a holiday as if your kids were still at school under previously normal circumstances. I want you talking with them about doing something different, fun, off the wall, etc for Monday instead of schoolwork that day, because usual school routine would not have them in school that day anyway.
Now that you have them excited for something out of the new ordinary for Monday, you still need them to complete their schoolwork on Friday. Make one of Friday’s school hours into PE class. Get them running around the house, sliding down the stairs and running back up to the top, doing jumping jacks on the porch and sit-ups in the living room. Get them tuckered out and then put their book work in front of them to have it completed for the day. By getting them so active first thing on Friday, you are helping their bodies purge toxins, get more oxygen to the brain, help their lymphatic system work better, and generally help them think more clearly. A clear mind can focus far easier than a foggy, cluttered, pent-up, excited mind.
As mentioned in last night’s video wrapping up the Planning Ahead week, I am looking forward to hearing what you and your kids planned for this long weekend!
