It’s time for the first official Try This Tuesday, and I hope you will participate by sharing a creative solution you have found to make your child’s life or your family’s life a little bit easier. For more information about how this meme will work, you can read the welcome post, but here are the basics:
- Post a challenge and the way you have dealt with it on your blog. Don’t be afraid to share something that seems insignificant; if it works for you, you have no idea how many other families it might help as well.
- Sign the Mr. Linky below this post with the direct link to your Try This Tuesday post (not your blog homepage).
- Click the other links in the Mr. Linky to get ideas and suggestions from others and hopefully make some new friends in the process.
- We all love comments! Please leave a comment on the weekly post here at 5MFSN and also comment on the posts you visit if you can.
And now, on to my first idea to try!
One item that gets a lot of use at our house is the timer. We use it for many purposes, most of which are related to giving structure to the day and making transitions go more smoothly. Anything that helps us avoid a meltdown is definitely worth its weight in gold around here!
Here are some of the ways we have used our timer:
- A timer can show how long until an event will start and thus ease the transition into the next item on the schedule. I use this often to make it clear when dinner will be ready or when we will need to leave the house to go somewhere.
- It can also be used to make it clear how long an activity will last, whether it is a preferred activity like TV or computer time or a non-preferred task like cleaning up or doing homework. This awareness can help reduce the whining and complaining about how much time is left or when Mom says “all done.”
- Another way a timer can be helpful is to encourage waiting patiently. If it is clear how long until Mom will be off the phone, it is that much easier to refrain from interrupting her every 30 seconds. (In my book, stretching out the interruptions to every 60 seconds is an improvement, but often my son will wait even longer when he knows the timer has been set.)
- Of course, a timer can also be used for its original purpose – to measure the length of a time-out. (Seriously, isn’t that why they were invented?)
What kind of timer you use depends on your child. We commonly use our small kitchen timer that can be clipped on a belt or stood up on a table. If a loud timer will upset your child or you need a more concrete representation of time, you may want to try a visual solution like the Time Timer®, which comes in various sizes and with or without sound.
Another technique I have seen used is to make laminated picture cards with the numbers 1-5 on them and use Velcro® to put them on a schedule board. Then you can take them away one at a time, starting with the number 5, to show the time until the next transition. One advantage here is that the actual length of time is variable depending on how you use it; it could even be used to represent specific tasks instead of time, such as picking up 5 toys before clean-up time is over.
My son has responded very well to this technique and sometimes will even ask to use the timer on his own. I would love to hear how you use your timer and also look forward to reading your own Try This Tuesday posts.
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