Transitioning from teacher to mother has been more difficult than I thought . . . I mean, I could patiently handle twenty 1st and 2nd grade students, how hard could it be to parent three kids?  Right?  But I currently feel like I’m in survival mode.  I am overwhelmed by all the responsibilities that my brain is telling me I need to juggle.  I LOVE my girls but I find myself saying, “I procreated myself out of my sanity,” more times than I care to experience.  

Time-management is a weakness of mine.  I desperately want to think through and set up household routines that will help maintain order in our home . . . basically I want my home to run as peacefully as my classroom did.

To help with this, I’ve been listening in the car to an audiobook, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode by Crystal Paine. Usually my kids ask for me to change it to music, but sometimes I can slip in some listening time for “mommy’s turn.” *Cause we mommies can only take so much of the Ghostbusters/Star Wars/Mary Poppins mix CD.*

Well, the other day we were getting ready to leave for a fun day-trip (so I was trying not to feel frantic, thinking I would forget something) and my just-turned-six-year-old daughter, online we’ll call her Miss Responsible, came up to me and said her list was all done for this morning just like the lady on my CD said to do.  I stopped my swirling preparations to look at her and ask her for more details to see what she had paid attention to when listening.

She amazed me.

She led me into her bedroom where *Holycowwhendidshehavettimetodothis!* she had posted all these lists on her wall. She’d written her list for what she needs to do in a day.  It was on 4-separate pages and labeled accordingly, “Morning, Afternoon, Evening, Bedtime.”  Well, I’m assessing, she may not know the difference between evening and afternoon.  🙂

Miss Responsible is starting to understand social media and emailing.  She asked if I could send an email to the author, Crystal Paine, letting her know that she was following her advice.  In Miss Responsible’s words, “When my mom is in the car listening to your book, I am listening along with it and in the chapter when you said to make your daily list, I heard that and I made some.”  She just informed me that she has updated her list since this picture because she forgot check-off boxes next to “disert”.  I think adding “dessert” to my daily docket is a brilliant idea. 😉

This is so fun. Once again, I’m reminded not to underestimate our kids.  Miss Responsible has completed this organizational step before me. I’m proud of her and, hey, this should eliminate my need to tell her what to do in the morning since she obviously already knows what needs to be done. Right?!
          
I complimented her on how smart she was and she said, “It’s not me, it’s the CD. Hey, that rhymes.”

Thank you, Crystal Paine, for your book. It is helping me . . . and my daughter.

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