I cannot obey my charts.
There. I said it. Now all of you Martha Stewart, Michelle Duggar, perfect, homeschooling moms can shoot your adorable, organized, color-coordinated arrows and gasp for air.
(By the way, I am NOT making fun. I am actually VERY covetous of your seeming ease at obedience to charts. And yes I am stereotyping. Please forgive.)
So about three or four weeks ago we decided to implement a new and improved "privilege ladder" into our home. An idea taken from one of my precious, homeschooling mom friends. And how gorgeous it is hanging on my neatly arranged bulletin board.
We clarified the one rule in our home: love, "up and out." Which, by the way, is accompanied by our own gang-sign-of-sorts. We explained to the children that their behavior will move them up and down the ladder, with various privileges given and taken at appropriate times. It's a long, multi-faceted plan with rocks and thumb tacks and magnets. I'll spare you the details.
Here's my point. I cannot obey it. I forget or am lazy or need to give a consequence in the car. And I often imagine the lady from Nanny 911 encouraging me with a British accent to keep it up. Then I think, my farmer grandmother didn't use charts. She didn't give rocks or gems when my dad obeyed. He obeyed or...well...it wasn't pretty. I'm just saying.
So am I wrong or weird or a chart-using-child-rearing-anarchist? I just want my kids to learn this very simple truth: They need Jesus! Without Him there is no life. Must I use a chart?
I'm sooo very curious about you. Do you obey your charts? Am I standing here all alone? Thoughts. Please.
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