So I live by a motto: “I don’t make wishes, I make decisions”. In other words, if you don’t like something about your life…change it. We have all been guilty of sitting around wishing something in our life was different, or better, or easier or more exciting but not doing a darned thing to try and change it. I decided quite a while ago that wasn’t going to be me anymore. I’m sure you have heard these quotes: “If you aren’t part of the solution you are part of the problem” or “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. So true!! If you ever hear me complain about something, you can pretty much count on me taking some sort of action to try and fix it or at least make it better whether it be getting in shape, my business, an organization I’m involved in, etc. However, when it comes to the small stuff, like the everyday routines, I am still often guilty of thinking “this is just how things are right now” when they aren’t going as smoothly as they could. THAT’S NOT TRUE! You can think outside the box and change ANY part of your life you aren’t happy with…even the small every day stuff. Sometimes you just need a wake-up call. Here was mine.

Mornings and bedtime had been getting pretty rough. I think after being out for Christmas break and getting a taste of a more relaxed schedule with more time to play, it has just been hard to get back to a decent routine (not that ours was all that great to begin with). After spending my entire evening following both kids around all night to tell them the next thing they needed to do in order to get everything done and get to bed on time, I was rewarded with dirty looks from my oldest and usually a full blown meltdown from my youngest. The mornings weren’t much better. While Marissa is always pretty good about being responsible when it comes to school and getting ready on time, Chase either goofed around until we were running late, or got everything done early and then started watching T.V. or playing his DS and then threw a fit when I said it was time to go. That is what happened this past Tuesday. Throw in the fact that we have had a new bus driver who often arrives very early and you end up with a mama who opened the garage door and quickly backed out of the drive and straight into the garbage truck that was getting the neighbor’s trash. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not blaming this on the kids (entirely). I should ALWAYS check behind and around me when driving, EVEN in my own drive and EVEN though I’m on a cul-de-sac and EVEN though we were running late and I was frantic. BUT it was clear that something had to change. So I added it to my “To Do” list for the day. Sometimes you already have the tools you need to change something, you just forgot about them or need to change them. I went back to our “Check, Check, Done” list that I shared in my blog last year. You can find this list at iMom.com under “printables” and “Organization”. You will find they have a TON of great printables, advice, and inspiration for moms. LOVE that site!
We used this list last year when Marissa was having trouble getting everything done at bedtime and it worked well, but she kept running out of lists and the used lists were all over the place so this time I printed one for each child and then put them in a scrapbook page protector and put them on the fridge with a name magnet for each child. That way we can use a dry erase marker and use the same sheet over and over again.
So now they know what they need to do and can mark things off on their own. We still needed a little more motivation so I added a reward system that we have used on and off for years. The Pom Pom Jar.
Every time they accomplish a morning or evening list in time, they get a pom pom in the jar. When the all of the pom poms are in the jar we get to do something fun as a family (that has been agreed upon already). This time we are going to go to a Mavericks Hockey Game. In the future I might bring their favorite lunch to school, spend a day at the park complete with a picnic, go to a movie or bowling. My favorite thing about this system is that not only is it a great motivator, but it reminds us to take time to do fun things together as a family. What do YOU need to change? Don’t wait for a garbage truck and a smashed bumper. 😉