I have a confession to make. I'm not always that good about stopping my kids when they come in from the bus to shake them down for information about their school day. They have agendas, after all, and who am I to compete with that every day? (And sometimes I even have agendas of my own. Shocking, I know.) Of course, I check their backpacks and they do their homework and all that stuff, but I know there has to be some time to hear about their school experience from the perspective of what THEY think is important. And so was born "The Weekly Wrap-Up".Every Friday when the kids come home, I provide a special treat (usually store-bought like this one Bethany and I found for 50 cents at the Target bakery), and invite them to the table. In exchange for the treat, they have to bring their backpacks to the table (lots of good stuff comes home on Fridays!) and tell three things about their week. That's it. Then of course we follow up with questions. What usually happens is that they end up interrupting each other to add stuff.
We are very blessed that Lee usually works from home, and can take a few minutes to come and be a part of this good time of sharing. If he didn't, we would probably want to make it work at a time when he could be included. And let's just be real here. Sometimes life happens and we don't get to the weekly wrap-up. We just go with the flow and do a Weekly Warm-up the following Monday. We're flexible like that.
So today as Ben was on his way out the door...
Ben: When I get home I will either want to play Wii or look at my Pokemon cards. (See what I mean about the agenda?)
Me: Well just remember there will be a Weekly Wrap-up first.
Ben: Yes! A treat!
Me (to myself): Yes! And I get to find out what's going on at school! :-)
9 comments:
What a great way to start off the weekend. That's a great idea I'll have to keep in mind when mine start school. Those treats looke yummy!
Love that idea. Of course a little bribery with the sweets never hurts to get them to slow down and spend a little time telling you what's going on with them.
Those are really cute decorated treats.
Hope they had a great first week at school.
♥
Joy
very cute idea! I usually get the low down on the drive home from school. After having to be quiet at school most of the day, they both spill as soon as they get in the truck and talk all the way home!
I also like to take the opportunity to ask who they played with at recess and who they sat by at lunch...just checking to see who they are spending their time with. I've known most of their classmates and parents since kindergarten, which makes it nice.
That is so great that you do that every Friday. I have a friend who has so much going on in her own life she rarely has time for her growing kids.
And it is so important! You and the kids will cherish these moments!
Awesome idea! We do fairly good at emptying backpacks, etc. every day EXCEPT Friday--we need to change that. In fact it's 10:45pm and I just put the lunch boxes away and hung the backpacks up (all things that the kids are supposed to do--and usually DO except when they're so excited about the weekend!)
We have a nightly ritual when everyone's home for dinner. Everyone at the table has to share a "headline" from his or her day. Must be my newspaper background...
Are you available to come talk to our MOPS group about parenting cause this is one great idea?!! Wish you lived closer and/or we had the funds to fly you to NC. That way we could hang out and glean great information from you at the same time.
Clever you!
That's a great idea. This year I take my kids to school at different times and so I have a few minutes alone with each of them every morning that we can "talk" w/o anybody else listening.
And then in the afternoons when I pick them up I get the usual "How was your day?" "Fine." "Did you learn anything new and exciting?" "No."
So, this year I've started asking "What was the best part of your day today?" That elicits a little more conversation and a little less flat "fine" answers.!
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