Day 6: GRACE

Difficult days are inevitable - those days where everything seems to go wrong, or nothing seems as easy as it should be. First, I need to learn to give myself grace! Then, in order to be prepared, I needed to come up a few things that I could do on a hard day in order to change the tone of the day - strategies that interrupt the 'everything is going wrong' cycle. I plan to keep keep this list nearby to pull out when needed. The goal is to include the kids in these activities because they are most definitely affected by these difficult days, also.

Five things I can do to interrupt a difficult day:

1. Stop. Pray.
2. Get outside - walk, run, play, garden, etc.
3. Make cookies or try a fun new recipe
4. Get out the board games or watch a movie together
5. Take time to sit and talk intentionally about the day with the kids

The Challenge for today was to discuss with the kids what their idea of a good day in our house looks like. I spent time observing them throughout the day to determine if there are more challenges during certain times.

Evie's good day:

• routines/structure
• helping around the house (chores)
• one-on-one time - She thrives on focused attention and struggles when she does not receive the attention constantly.
• When crabby or overwhelmed: Evie likes us to sit and read to her - one-on-one attention. Sometimes she likes to take 'Evie time' and play alone in her room, but it has to be her idea.

Jackson's good day:

• food - I know this sounds awful, but if I have meals and snacks planned out well throughout the day, he is one very happy camper. If not, well let's just say we experience one of those 'difficult days' I talked about previously.
• activities that keep him busy - He does not sit still for long.
• extra time with Mama rocking and singing before bed
• When crabby or overwhelmed: Jackson likes anything that gets his mind of his mood - food, activites, going outside. He goes with the flow very well, except when he is tired or hungry.

Observed challenging times during the day and ideas to help keep the peace:

Dinner-time

• save media till now (tv, computer)
• get Evie's help cooking
• puzzles, coloring, painting, playdoh
• outside playtime

Bed-time

• baths always make everyone happy, even if they do add a little more work
• spend time reading more books
• stop rushing through night-time routine - enjoy these moments while the children as still young and need more attention (rock and sing with Jackson, read/journal/pray/talk with Evie)

Finding Joy Blog: Day 6: Grace