It's easy to get stuck in habits. If anything, habits are the exact thing that define our lives the most, even when they seem so small. We've talked to a mindful mom, who stumbled upon an issue: her daughter developed a habit where she would ask for the TV automatically when returning from school. When the daughter was asking this - it happend during the same time as the mom started cooking food for dinner, so she just went with it - however she didn't want this to grow into a habit - because it didn't fit with hér way of parenting. She felt her daughter started to nag, her mood would be affected and she never wanted the TV to be turned off - which always resulted in an outburst. So she realized either she needed to set healthy boundaries, or.. come up with something new.
There are a couple scenario's that happen when a child returns from school. Have any of your parents noticed how a clean, tidy children's room, immediately leads to more play? Put the building blocks in the spotlight, and, voila, the child will start building blocks. Put out a puzzle on the table, and the kids get excited to do a puzzle! When a child enters a home that is not organized- and let's cut ourselves some slack, that just happens in a turbulent family day-to-day life! They almost feel uninspired - not knowing what to do first. The easiest thing to do then is to ask for the TV to be turned on. However, this mom here, she did a fun experiment:
One day she put out the pencils, white paper, crayons, stickers and glitter. She also added a plate of kiwis, bananas and other fruit - and left this "working station" neat for the entire week. This resulted in not only her daughter not asking for any snacks - but also an entire full box of creations and crafts made by her daughter. Her child has been crafting and painting and coloring the entire week after school - while her mom didn't even have to say a single word about it. Isn't that great? Of course it's great to mix it up with other activities, but the point is that with the right nudges, your child will feel a lot more motivated and excited to do things. Their interests will just flow naturally. So, what toys or craft-sets will you set out tomorrow? PS: Fun fact, the image on top, is one of the creations from the past week!
Love, Team Koala Charlotte