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What Works for Us: The Calendar

A few months back, Scott made us a ton of white boards out of cardboard and white board paint.  We now have white boards for every occasion which makes this mom very happy.

One of the most loved white boards is on the fridge and it is our calendar.  It is only a week long and we re-draw it every Sunday.  For efficiency's sake, I'm putting up this picture instead of explaining it:



Soren has taken a great interest in the passage of time and in knowing what's coming up next.  He has always wanted things to be predictable and he really thrives on daily and weekly routines.  The calendar is great for him because he knows what we will be doing and when.

The calendar minimizes tantrums about undesirable activities as Soren has plenty of time to prepare for the inevitable events (like church).  It also gives him hope when very desirable activities have to been postponed.   For example, one day he asked me to go visit the ducks but we just didn't have the time.  So we put it on the calendar for Saturday.  After that, he was just fine because he knew when we would do it.

After a few months of this, Soren has joined in the effort by making his own calendars every week.  I even mounted magnets on the back of his white board so that it could go on the fridge just like mine:


You can see that he has scheduled in a couple of naps and also church.  The big cross was the icon I used when we had to go to a funeral and he has included that on his schedule, too.  Some of the pictures, though, are beyond me.

As a bonus, you get to see my beautiful sister-in-law-to-be in that picture!

Comments

Hannah said…
I LOVE it!! Might steal. But it's really hard for me to stick to routines and stuff, so I might fail miserably. But in theory, I love it! lol

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