I always find it very easy to see where other people are going wrong… or right… with time management skills, especially my kids :0)
So this morning it was quite easy to make an observation, especially since it isn’t the first time, in fact, it’s a regular thing.
My daughter begged and pleaded for her own small dog for years, so against my better judgement (why don’t I listen!) when one became available, I caved.
The dog has been a huge load (in more ways than one!) so one of her jobs is to take her out in the morning. Every morning, I tell her do it first, or the dog barks and goes on her paper in her crate, which for some reason is beside MY bed, and gets her bedding messed up, which “I” end up washing.
So today she again left it until later in the morning. By the time she was finished, she had to come in and rush to eat her breakfast, and the dog didn’t go anyway, because she already went!
And to make it a little sad, she had asked me to come and sit with her while she ate her breakfast, but by the time she did the dog, there was only a minute or two for her to eat. I’m down one mommy moment.
Enter Emotional outburst number one for her.
Then while rushing out the door, I noticed she is wearing capris pants. I said, I think you need to be wearing long pants now, because it’s cold. She told me she knows but she couldn’t find any because her clothes are in baskets. She has been sorting after being given a ton of clothes from a friend.
She probably has 20 pairs of pants but couldn’t find one pair to wear.
Then she needed her coat. Is it hanging where it should be. You guessed it. It’s not.
So she needs to look for it, finding it under a blanket on the couch.
Emotional outburst number two - why do people touch my stuff! - she says.
Obviously if it was hanging up no one would be touching it.
Point number two is that she is the one who uses the livingroom the most and doesn’t clean up after herself, that’s why she can’t find anything she leaves in it.
For my part, I was trying to get a start on some work I need to do today, multi-tasking, and wasn’t watching the clock, otherwise I would have called her in earlier. I broke the rule - focus on one thing - work or family - not both!
This may sound like a rambling blog entry, or it may sound like one of your kids - or you :0)
But the lesson in this fairly typical morning is that there where many places throughout that had she done what she knows she should do, there would have been no situation.
How many times do we do the same thing?
If you are finding yourself running around like a chicken with your head cut off, with your stress level going over the roof, try this.
Write down on a typical morning or day what happened, what stressed you out. Then write down the fix. There is almost always one with a little thought.
Pick one and start to work on it. Then go to the next.
After this morning, what will mine be? I am going to start with the dog and being sure that she takes it earlier until it becomes a habit for her. And then I will work on the rest of the list!
How about you. I’d love to hear about it.
the reward.
