Procrastination...

Posted by Victoria comments (0)
I have heard the saying "opposites attract" all my life and in most cases it apears to be true. Most people would say that Jason and I are complete opposites. I prefer to think of us as balanced. We balance each other out. I am a worrier and Jason is laid back and stress free most of the time. I am always running late Jason is always on time. Jason is a spender and I am the saver. Jason is quiet and reserved while I am more outgoing and chatty. We balance each other, however there are quite a few things that we have in common, and unfortunately one of those things is the ability to procrastinate. We both tend to put things off until the last minute. Our philosophy tends to be " it will get done sometime." Why do today what you can put off til tomorrow? This was not so much of a problem for us until we had children. Emma is the stereotypical first born child. Very determined, very motivated, and very much a type A, get it done now, kind of a girl. The complete opposite of her parents much to her dismay. If she has a project for school or something she has to get finished, she expects us to work on it right NOW! She doesn't understand the " we can do it tomorrow" attitude and this has caused a stressful enviroment lately. The past few weeks I have noticed that I spend a lot of my day fussing at the girls about things that aren't getting done. Rooms that are messy from yesterday, homework that should have been done before bed time, toys that are not getting cleaned up, laundry that is still on the floor in bedrooms instead of the hamper. Emma gets frustrated because I put things off to the last minute and then fuss at her when she can't get it done quickly. I put them to bed at night and feel guilty that time we could have been enjoying each other was ruined by me having to fuss and complain to them about getting things done. 
In an effort to make things run more smoothly I decided to come up with an afternoon schedule. I sat down with Jason and we came up with time slots for each thing to get done. Homework first thing, then chores, then playtime, clean-up before dinner, family time after dinner, I even scheduled in the snack times, and bedtime routine. I posted it on the fridge and explained it to the girls. Emma seemed excited, she was even giving me ideas about what we could put on the schedule. It has now been two weeks and there has not been a single argument. Emma is thriving on this new idea. It fits her personality perfectly. She has not argued about doing homework, we have not fussed with Lydia about clean-up, and we have had more time to enjoy each other and have family time. Emma told me the other morning that she thought the schedule was magic, because we have been getting everything done on time. I had to admit to her that the schedule was not magic it was just making Mommy and Daddy be more responsible with our time. She thought that was funny...maybe God has found a way to balance Jason and I out through our children. We definitely need all the help we can get :)


 All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. Proverbs 14:23