Monday, October 5, 2009

Chair Time With Ben


Here’s a shocker...The Madsons have TONS of energy and we have to train our children and ourselves for that matter, to sit quietly without movement and noise. For some families this comes naturally...NOT for ours! We instituted "Chair Time" way back when Tage was a toddler and have practiced it off and on over the years with the older three kiddos. Ben however has NEVER experienced "Chair Time" and lately I have noticed things would be a lot easier if I would work with him on it. NOTE!!! Your kiddo strapped into a car seat for long periods of time during the day does NOT constitute chair time...I can speak from experience! Now on with the story...Here is how we do chair time...

1. Put a kitchen/desk chair in the middle of the living room floor.

2. Let the kiddo pick out 3 or 4 books depending on the length of time they will be sitting.

3. No toys, blankets etc...Just kiddo and books.

4. Set timer. I started Ben off with 10 min and we will work up to 30 min over the school year.

5. Remind them that there is no talking or singing or noise making and they have to stay on the chair until they hear the beeper.

6. Blessings at the end! I let the kids pick one of the books they were looking at for me to read while they eat a cookie! Lots of praise, hugs and of course cookies!

Ben did a fabulous job today, and we read "Where The Wild Things Are" when he was done. I think that book is quite fitting...Don't you!

4 comments:

Michelle said...

Good job Rach!

Lauren said...

What a great idea! Does this mean that eventually I'll be able to pay attention to a whole sermon???

Jen Welch said...

Too sweet. Good job Ben. We're cheering you on buddy :)

Nell said...

I think I read that the Duggars do this with their children, too.

Nell