Sometimes my children say or do things that sum up their personalities perfectly without any further words being needed. This kind of “personality snapshot” of my third daughter took place a few days ago, after we instigated a “responsibilities chart.” Anyone who has ever been around Bitty for any length of time soon picks up on her deep-rooted desire for structure. She wants – she NEEDS – clarification about everything. She wants to know exactly what she’s allowed to do, and how she’s allowed to do it, and when she’s allowed to do it, and who she’s allowed to do it with. Answering her questions can sometimes be exhausting! I thought that giving her a list of the things she’s required to do each day (make her bed, wipe off the table, etc.) would help make things easier for her, and I made things as simple as I could by creating a “responsibilities chart” for her and for each of the children.
It goes like this:
Each child has two sets of two pockets on the responsibilities chart, which is hanging on their bedroom wall. There is one set of two pockets (one on top of the other) for morning responsibilities and another set of two pockets for evening responsibilities. Index cards with tasks written on them (one task per card) are placed in top pockets of the chart and as each child finishes the task assigned to them, they remove the card from the top pocket and put it into the bottom pocket and move on to the next card. Simple, right?
On the first morning of their new program, my oldest daughter found Bitty sitting in front of the bathroom door, wiggling furiously. Upon asking what was wrong, she received the following response:
“I wish my card would hurry up and say I can go to the bathroom! I REALLY need to potty!!!”
