I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner, given my love for to-do lists, but I decided that on Friday nights during dinner, I would go over the weekend with the kids, showing them where we had activities planned and where there were gaps in the schedule. We talked about what fun things they wanted to be able to do with those gaps, and then I told them they could do those things . . . if they took care of their to-do's first. And then we made a list of those to-do's, and I told Jada to rewrite them upstairs on the white erase board in their hallway. Then I told the both of them that they could do the fun things only after they had taken care of every single thing on their to-do list.
Well, this seemed to work. Jada, who is normally one to play first and work second, set about hacking away at her to-do list as soon as she woke up the next morning. By 9, she had done all her stuff and egged Aaron on to do his stuff. Not bad for a flighty little girl who usually can't remember chore instructions three minutes after they've been given.
We need to go back and work on thoroughness and quality, since the goal in life isn't just to get stuff done but to do it right (self, are you listening?). Still, having, writing, and keeping a to-do list seems to have worked. So don't think we aren't going to keep going to that over and over again in the weeks and months to come.
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