~The Speth Family~: Setting goals... and seeing progress!!!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Setting goals... and seeing progress!!!

This Summer we are trying something new! I'm pretty excited about it and the kids have been as well. One of my most recent concerns with our kids is that they want to accomplish things, but don't do anything to achieve those things. So this summer we are doing a sort of inspired experiment. We got a family binder and in it we each have a section with charts and goals and every weekday morning we wake up and do something to work toward those goals, then get our chores and spiritual things done and they get the rest of the day (usually) to do whatever they choose. Its working fabulously! Each week the kids get to fill out a chart of things they've done and they can turn those charts in for fun activities... swimming, trampoline park, aquatic centers....

They are doing so well and are way ahead of schedule to accomplish their goals (I will post about their achievements as soon as they accomplish them) - I am so proud of them! It feels so good to put our house in order and to teach the kids to work and achieve and grow!

Another thing we've tried that has gone really well has to do with scripture study. John has been working an extra job and our family scripture time started to suffer, but I went to a stake relief society meeting (quite discouraged at our regression) and was inspired! So our first step is memorization. We pick a scripture each week to memorize. The kids and I work on it every morning before school or before we work on our goals and then we say our family prayer. Each week at Family Home Evening (or Sunday night family counsel) we pass off the scripture and someone picks a new verse. In just a few months we have memorized a whole list of scriptures! I love knowing that their heads are being filled with positive, uplifting thoughts and I hope we remember those scriptures when we need help making decisions. It seems so much easier for the Holy Ghost to guide us when the answers are already in our minds and all he has to do is bring them to remembrance.

Finally, my latest breakthrough - cleaning!!! I can't tell you how much prayer and thought has gone into this one :) Along the way things have happened to encourage me to do certain things I wouldn't ordinarily do and it has been such a blessing! The first thing that has made our house cleaning less overwhelming is that we put most of the kid's toys in storage. Crazy sounding, I know, but it works! There are almost no toys in their rooms and they are so easy to clean! The kids haven't complained a bit and I haven't had to harp on them and its so much more peaceful around here :) The toys we kept are in the basement and they can go down and play with them any time or bring them upstairs. Its a pain to bring up a bunch of toys so most of them don't make it up here :) And they are allowed to go to storage whenever they like and trade toys. Admittedly, if we weren't contemplating moving we would never have done this, but the house is so much cleaner and easier to maintain.

Also, last Friday we had sort of a breakthrough in the quality of cleaning that gets done by the girls. I have been inspired here and there to demonstrate the proper way to clean things and explain what is expected and not to overwhelm them, but some things came to mind Saturday morning and I tried them and it was FANTASTIC! We started at one end of the house and worked toward the other switching off as we went along. Kylie and I started in the downstairs bathroom while Allie entertained Madelyn. Then Allie and I tackled the laundry room while Kylie played with the baby. We worked through the house so quickly! I was able to see just how they were cleaning things and point out tips to help them and they got little breaks in between chores. I still ended up doing the majority of the work as they are a little slow, but they didn't complain and I love knowing they they could see the way I was doing things and know just how much work goes into maintaing order.

Okay, one more observation. Our kids like to complain about having to work. This drives me INSANE. As part of our family plan we do small chores each day. I have learned that if we do them each day they don't pile up so I only have to give the girls a couple of small chores each and they are done. Its not overwhelming or even hard, yet they do it and have cut down complaining and tantrums significantly! For example. Instead of waiting until the garden is full of weeds, we give them a small, small section - one row of beans or around a squash plant and then I go out and weed with them. Its so nice!

I know these things don't work for every family, but they are definitely making life more peaceful and productive around here and I am grateful for the many pieces of inspiration that have come as answers to frustrated prayers!

2 comments:

HeidiJuly 10, 2012 at 6:38 AM
Wow, congrats! I LOVE this, great job Suzi! Can I see your binder when I come visit? :) We come in town this week through August, let's play! Hugs.
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JulieJuly 21, 2012 at 10:52 PM
Way to go girl! You've got it down! I kind of run a sweat shop down here with my kids and the work I make them do but it sure does help me a lot with Matt gone! :) Keep up the good work!
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A Future of Peace
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~Dieter F. Uchtdorf~