Thursday, October 1, 2009

Blanket Time

For the past few weeks we have been working on blanket time with Deedo, an idea I learned from a friend. I sorta kinda already did quiet time with Sharks (he sits on the couch with books and toys), but once Deedo gave up his morning nap, it was time for his turn. So, instead of a morning nap, now we start with a Bible story from this followed by 30 minutes of blanket time each morning.


It took about 2 days of consistent training for Deed0 to get it. I thought I was doing it for his benefit and it has been great for him to learn to be still and play with only a few toys at a time.
What I didn't realize was that it would hugely benefit our whole family too. Deedo is a very active little guy, constantly going from one thing to the next and continually getting into stuff he shouldn't. Now, when things get a little crazy or out of control, we have the option of a little blanket time to settle things down. It feels like a deep breath for all of us.

Chet and I have both noticed how much Deedo seems to like it - he rarely tries to move off the blanket at all these days. And he knows exactly what I expect from him, which helps bring a little order into the day.
What do you do with your kids (or by yourself) to restore a little calm to your home?

4 comments:

kp said...

This is awesome - so we should talk sometime about how you are accomplishing this. Very cool!

Amanda said...

erin, my best friend does this with her 2 little boys and it helps them a lot too! good job!

Emily said...

this sounds like such a great idea. how do you do it?

Lori said...

Erin- how did you teach him to do this?