I've seen this quote a few times, "What is the definition of insanity? It is trying to do the same thing the same way over and over again expecting different results."
This really resonates with me. How often do I approach something the same way over and over expecting that this time things will go the way I want? The answer is a lot. I got to thinking about how tough our mornings have been with our son Caleb for quite awhile now. His dad goes up, wakes him and grabs his school clothes. He brings the clothes down to the living room so Caleb can watch TV while he gets dressed. That's where we run in to trouble. Caleb has to be nagged and finally yelled at to get off the couch and start getting dressed. Sometimes resulting in them running late in the morning because Caleb is not cooperating. Twice in the last week, his dad even forgot to give Caleb his meds for his ADHD, because they were running late with all the fighting to get Caleb to even get dressed. During all this, I am finishing getting myself ready and getting the twins up and ready for daycare. All in all, the mornings have been stressful for quite some time. Thing is, we kept expecting Caleb to just do better each morning. It should have been obvious that we needed to change the routine, but we kept going at it the same way. Finally, Robert & I had a talk Monday night about changing things up. I told him he should make Caleb get dressed up in his room and he is not to come down until he is dressed. Also, to take the kitchen timer up and tell Caleb he has to be dressed within the 10 minutes on the timer. So, we tried it on Tuesday morning and it has worked so well! He is now racing to get dressed in 3 minutes or less and he is so proud of himself when he gets downstairs. The last 3 mornings have been night and day different for us. Gone is the fighting and frustration. Instead, we find we have more time in the morning and the tension is gone. It's amazing what that one fairly small change did. Caleb is much happier in the mornings now and I know that has to help start his day out right. I know there will still be mornings where we have issues, but I am so glad we found something that is working.
I remembered back to when we were taking Caleb to a counselor to get him diagnosed with ADHD. He told us that kids with ADHD need routines and they need clearly set boundaries. I'm really greatful this came back to me and that it seems to be helping my son. I love to see him smiling and happy.
