Honestly, I've never really sat down and written out short (or long term) goals for my kids. So, writing this post has been good for me. I am constantly evaluating both of them and praying about what I can work on character or personality wise to make them more like Jesus (I'm praying the same thing for myself too!), but I've never actually written it out. So, here goes...
Meredith (3.5 years)
Is quite independent. She will watch how I do things and take it upon herself to do whatever it is on her own. For example, I realized recently that she has been putting her own dirty clothes in the laundry basket. I never asked her to do this, she simply knew where they went and did it. I want to praise her more for things like this and foster her independence by giving her more grown up chores to do. I think she will love this! I also want to praise her for doing these things without me asking and doing them with a cheerful attitude! Sometimes if she doesn't want to do something I ask her, she responds by whining or pouting about it. I'm trying to reinforce that we need to do what is asked of us with a cheerful heart.
I also have a goal to work on "schooling" with her for a little while each morning. I havn't pushed school at all and while we plan on homeschooling, I really wanted to wait a while to start. But, she has started reading a bit on her own and begs to do crafts and school-type activities all the time. So, I've tried to be a bit more purposeful about coming up with structured things for her for every day of the week.
She is a talker! She litererally talks non-stop when she is awake! She loves language and is fascinated by new words and learning what things mean. But, I'm beginning to see that sometimes her talking can be a problem. For instance, I seriously cannot read one sentence in a book before she starts interrupting by pointing out things she notices and asking questions (many of which are usually answered by reading the story). I really value her curiosity, but I think I need to start teaching her to hold some of her questions and have some self-control to keep from interrupting others.
Jonathan (2)
Is such a joy to me! He loves to play hard, but will still snuggle sweetly with me when he's tired. I just can't get enough of him! He really loves his blanket (aka "nite-nite") and carries it around a lot. He will look for it if he is upset about something and needs comforting. I think I'm going to work on getting him to leave it in his room until naps and bedtime.
We have been working on potty training last week and he's doing great! After just one week, he only has one or two accidents per day, and it is usually because I haven't taken him to the bathroom soon enough. He still won't tell me he has to go, so I'll be working on getting him to understand that.
Character wise, I need to get him to stop biting! We've already disciplined pretty severly for this, but he gets so upset if he's overpowered by his big sister and resorts to biting. I can usually step in a referee if I see an argument that is getting heated, but if I'm not around he'll bite her. So, the biting and the arguing that entices it need working on (for both of them really).
That's about it! Do you have goals for your kids?
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