further thoughts on suggestion

I suggest a lot of things to my kids...shall we go here? Shall we do this? Would you like to read this with me?

Honestly, I am met with "no thanks" as many times (if not more) than I am met with "yes please".

It used to bother me. I would feel sad if I had spent time and energy trying to come up with some thing inventive and fun to do, only for them to decline it. I realised that I should plan and do things that interested me, that I enjoyed.

Lead by example, if you will.

Since becoming more active, I've noticed the kids have picked up a wide variety of interests.

There is always some thing going on somewhere...some experiment, design, invention or story being acted out.


I just need to work on my attitude to the mess this creates.

There are some things that are not negotiable. Each child has jobs to do, and they need to do them each day to make sure there is time for us all to do what we want and need to do.

Chores.

There is emptying the dishwasher, making their own beds, occasional hoovering and dusting (both of these are seen as fun at the moment!)

They have to make sure their own shoes and coats are properly put away, and they are expected to lay and clear the table.

Nothing too terrible.

I think, for us, suggestion is a good thing.