Teach Responsibility and Accountability to Young Children: How We Do It

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6:30 AM	Get dressed, brush teeth, socks and shoes on, feed Felicia, eat breakfast
7:00 AM	Victoria's choice! Free time... Free time... Free time... Free time... Free time... Free time... Free time...
7:30 AM
8:00 AM	(8:10 on the bus)					Family time and individual commitments Get our home and hearts ready for the Sabbath Free time	Free time
8:30 AM	School
9:00 AM
9:30 AM							Leave @ 9:25 CHURCH Help after?
10:00 AM
10:30 AM
11:00 AM
11:30 AM
noon
1:00 PM
1:30 PM							Call family, Bday cards, missionary letters, etc.
2:00 PM
2:30 PM
3:00 PM							Free time
3:30 PM	(4:10 home from school)					Prepare for Sunday
4:00 PM	Shoes away, lunch leftovers in the fridge, folder emptied, etc.
4:30 PM	Free time... Free time... Free time... Free time... Free time... Free time... Free time...
5:00 PM
5:30 PM	DINNER	DINNER	DINNER	DINNER	DINNER	DINNER	DINNER
6:00 PM
6:30 PM	FHE	Free time	Free time	Free time	Free time	Free time	Free time
7:00 PM	Brush teeth, shower, put on pajamas, put away dirty clothes, pray, scriptures, toilet, yoga
7:30 PM	“In bed” bedtime stories, etc.
8:00 PM	BLACK OUT (HOUSE-WIDE)
8:30 PM
9:00 PM

This is an example of our family's flexible schedule. We've prioritized our commitments while trying to preserve the agency of individual members. This is what we've been following for the past 3 years or so.

Before-school Yellows

• get dressed and pajamas put away
• socks and shoes on
• eat breakfast
• feed Felicia
• brush teeth
• family prayer and family scripture study

After-school Yellows

• shoes away and back pack hung on kitchen door
• lunch leftovers put in the fridge
• eat a snack (lunch leftovers or other)
• empty folder and do any homework

Bedtime Yellows

• shower before 7:30 P.M.
• pajamas on and dirty clothes put away
• brush teeth
• use the toilet
• personal prayers
• mindfulness moment and other quiet activities
• read scriptures with Dad (personal study)

Now that Victoria is in second grade, we've started giving her more responsibility to go with her choices. Below is her readiness chart. For her expected behavior she earns points which she can use as currency for rare and appreciated rewards. (Yes, I've read some Alfie Kohn as an educator and in our home with an only child I find his teachings hardly relevant. When we are blessed with more children I don't plan to change my philosophies on rewards and punishments.)

Write the date here

Morning

Say prayers

Get dressed

Eat breakfast

Eat vitamin

Feed Felicia

Brush teeth

After school

Read 20 mins

Spelling/HW

Set the table

Chore of choice

Bedtime

Shower

Dirty clothes

Get PJs on

Brush teeth

Use the toilet

Say prayers

Read scriptures

TOTALS

I'm a recovering control freak who refuses to abandon the gift of my organization loving mind. These charts help me strike the balance between nagging person who becomes her child's frontalobes (sometimes a necessity but not good for long term relationships) and a permissive, non-teaching parent. This is works for us and has spared us much agony so I thought I'd share it here as I'm cleaning out our old documents folder so we can back up the computer. I hope it helps someone else.