wfmw: kid time

For quite awhile, I'd feed my kids and myself breakfast, and then try to clean up the kitchen with my two-year old running amok and my nine-month-old hanging onto my skirt and whining. I hated the idea of leaving the kitchen with dirty dishes and the table sticky with jam, but I also hated trying to clean it up with my kids acting fussy the whole time.

I had another problem too: I couldn't seem to stick in reading time anywhere in our day. When my son was a newborn, it was easy. I just read to my daughter while he nursed. But after a few months he got old enough that that distracted him, and I had to stop doing it that way. I hate to say it, but our reading times were pretty hit-and-miss for awhile there.

But a couple of weeks ago, I found the answer! Reading time right after breakfast! Yup, I decided to be brave and try an experiment: I left the dishes dirty and the table sticky, and hauled the kids straight from their breakfasts over to our couch, where we picked out a variety of books and read for twenty or so minutes straight. I alternated between the story books my daughter likes and the board books that fascinate my son, letting my son chew on the board books when it wasn't his turn (that's what they're for!). After about twenty minutes of reading, I turned the two of them loose and went back to clean up the kitchen.

And guess what? After those twenty minutes of straight, uninterrupted mom-attention, they played happily for the twenty minutes or so it took to do the dishes! I was tickled pink - if only all of my experiments could turn out so well!

So there you have it: reading time and dishes both checked off of the list - works for me! Head over to Rocks in My Dryer for more tips and tricks.

And, in keeping with the theme of the blog, let me point out that a regular reading time is a great way to familiarize your child (and yourself) with different Bible stories. My favorite series is an old one, the Arch Bible stories. They're not published anymore, but you can find them pretty easily and cheaply in thrift stores or on eBay. Our current favorite is Jesus' Second Family, about Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Bess calls it the "Bethany" book. My favorite part comes after Jesus gently rebukes Martha for complaining about Mary's lack of help with the housework:

"Now Jesus' words surprised them all,
But soon they understood:
He didn't mean that work was bad,
But hearing God was good."

Honestly, that little quatrain helped me understand that story better than four years of Bible college ever did. I love children's lit!

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica

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