How many times have we vowed to turn over a new leaf? Sometimes we succeed and and all to often we slide back into the habit we are trying to rid ourselves of so desperately. I am in the middle of such an effort. My life has been an ode to procrastination. Born two weeks late and consistently late ever since. In college my roommates would diligently begin their papers soon after the topic was assigned. I however, would begin the night before, or shall I say morning that it was due. A twelve page paper with bibliography and footnotes? No problem. Midnight was early enough for that 8 a.m. paper to begin. A nasty habit to say the least. Not one that I want my children to emulate.
The change of my behavior began when the eldest was struggling in private school. Because he had learning disabilities we could not wait until the last minute to complete assignments. Things that should have taken 15 minutes could take hours depending on the day he was having. Those habits were repeated with the twins. As soon as something is assigned we begin the work. My children are learning that breaking things down into daily steps makes for less stress the day before. They already have better study habits than I did.
With all those improvements you would think some of those good habits I instilled in my children would have worn off on me. No. Such. Luck. Procrastination was still my way of life. But this school year is starting off differently. It began with lesson plans for the first two weeks completed before the first day of school. I am planning menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner a week in advance. I have even put the menus, shopping lists and the family's calendar on a online program that everyone in the family can access. Today the eldest and I finished school early because he had chosen to complete a couple of assignments ahead of schedule. So instead of spending the afternoon in my abandoned craft room, I planned next week's menu and wrote up the shopping list. After picking up the twins from school we headed off to the grocery stores. Then home to put away groceries, and make tonight's dinner/tomorrow's lunch as well as breakfast. I have a meeting tomorrow morning so I hope that by spending today doing the necessary things I will be able to enjoy a lazy Saturday afternoon. Hopefully all will work as planned.
I am enjoying the feeling of knowing what is on the schedule. I almost feel "together". And yes, I just knocked on wood after that statement. Will this new found organization last? I hope so. But like I tell the boys, if we mess up today then we just start from the beginning tomorrow.
