Kids' Independence

So here's my next step toward sanity....I'm teaching my kids how to shower by themselves.  This process has not been over night, and we are still working out the kinks to the system.

It all began with my obsessive need to have a schedule in my life.  As an early childhood educator, I have always known of the need for schedules and routine in a child's life, but never really understood it until I had kids.  Since my first son's birth, the nightly routine has always been dinner, bath, bed.  Many have mocked this process, but as a mother of elementary aged children, I love that my kids know what to expect in the evening.  (Not to mention this helps with getting my kids in bed by 7:30 each night.  Who's laughing now?)  A routine also ensues during the bathing process as well: hair first, then face, then body.

I began the independent bathing at the beginning of this summer with the premise of convincing my 6 year old that "first graders bathe themselves."  Of course my more independent 4 year old took to the new chore with ease...it has taken the older one a little more coercing.  But we have started with hair washing first.  They love soaping up their hair and making new hairstyles for themselves.

Now my nighttime routine will be a little more sane...