LABELLING CUPS AND PLATES KEEP OUR LARGE FAMILY ORGANISED
is part of the Write 31 2017 Challenge.
Read 31 Days of Life in a Large Homeschooling Family for more posts.
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In a large family, many things have to be streamlined or I will go mad. Children are also quickly taught basic life skills. This is especially important in the early years when I had more people depending on rather than helping me.
Labelling Cups and Plates
One way of keeping on top of the many cups and plates we use daily is to label them with each child’s name. This way, each child knows which plate and cup belongs to him/her and there is no fighting over them. Before the big hooha about BPA, we used plastic plates and cups. We now use stainless steel plates and cups.
Labelling is a simple trick that reduced stress on so many levels for me.
How?
Individual Cups
On the matter of cups, this prevented a child from taking random cups to use, then leaving them around the house and denying that he/she did it.
After all, when they were toddlers, they had individual Pigeon Mag Mag Step 3 Straw Cups. So, once they “graduate” from using them, they go on to individual stainless steel cups. No big adjustments at all.
Individual Plates
On the matter of plates, assigning and labelling plates forced them to do a better job of washing them well. Because if they don’t, they would either have to eat off a dirty plate at the next meal or go and wash the plate again.
While labelling and assigning individual cups has been done since like forever, labelling individual plates was only recently instituted.
It was not necessary before because previously, I had assigned one child to wash up after each meal. So, it was easy to pinpoint who did not do the dishes properly. But due to changing schedules, I had to change things around.
I ended up having each child wash his/her own dish after each meal. But, without individually labelled plates, everybody blamed everybody else for poorly washed dishes! This way, they have no more excuses or denials of a job poorly done.
Your turn
Try it and see how it works in your home!
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