back in the saddle again

Well, my "Spring Break" ended yesterday, so today I was back in the saddle with my awesome team of teachers at the language school. We are doing some planning and development these two days, and on Monday a new (two month) term starts for us. This so-called spring break was scheduled to beMonday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, while today and tomorrow were scheduled work days for me. However, I met with some students in New Orleans on Monday as a school representative, and then I came in for a short while on both Tuesday and Wednesday, so it is really funny to think of it as a spring break.

On Monday, Bonnie and the kids and I all drove back in to Houston to get back in the saddle again as far as home and home routines. Actually, thanks to all the recent teacher training, everything is a "procedure" these days, so Bonnie and I hashed out a lot of procedures of parenting that we are starting to implement at our house. So far we've been really pleased, because children take to procedures with the gusto of a new game:

You want to play the Wii? Okay, let's check what we need to do.
What we need to do?
Yeah, there is a checklist and then steps we need to follow.
Steps?
Yes, first of all, is it an appropriate time to play? Yes it is. Next we need to make sure tidy up the living room before we play. Step one is to pick up our toys and put them away. Isaac, you do step two. Step two is to make sure all the shoes are put away nicely.
What's step three?
Orry, you just finish step one and then we'll do step three. Let's put all these toys away.
What's step three?
Step three is taking care of jackets or other clothes.
What's step four?
Step four is making piles with the things that are still out.
What's step five?
Step five? Let's make sure all the other steps are finished. Let's help Isaac finish up.
Okay, now what?
Now we get to play. But first, look at the Wii-motes and see where everything belongs. When we finish, we're going to put everything right back where it belongs.

And so on. That was fun.

So we formulated all sort of procedures for all the little details of life. Then we have procedures to teach, which become routine, and then we have a smoothly oiled productive household.

I heard that routines/procedures are how we can teach responsibility to children. As in, some action is expected in a given situation. And how the student is aware of what is expected and how they choose to do or neglect what is expected defines how responsible they are. So teaching and practicing any sort of meaningful routine makes a lot of sense.