Change Day

Happy May 1st!! The first of the month is always a *big* day in our household. You may wonder why the 1st day of the month is such a big deal. You will never guess...the first day of each month, the boys rotate who sits where in the van and at the kitchen counter. Ooooooo.....

As you can imagine, having 3 kids the same age can pose a few logistical problems in getting through a day smoothly. There have been many disputes about who gets to do something first...or who sits in the *good* seat.... or who gets to push the button on the elevator... or who gets to put the put the dvd in...or...I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Anyway, the old 'let your brother sit there, he is younger and doesn't understand' argument obviously has never worked in our house.

When we approached the age that we started to have these types of problems, I consulted the "experts" (other, more experienced, triplet moms). It seemed that a lot of moms developed a "kid of the day" type system to resolve some of the bickering. That seemed like a great idea to me, but at the time, our biggest issue was the car and I didn't want to deal with keeping track of who was supposed to sit in which seat each time we got into the car, not to mention moving Magnadoodles and other *personal items* each time everyone got into the car. Our solution was to rotate seats on a monthly basis. We later applied that system to determine seats at the kitchen counter. The system has worked out quite nicely and I think the boys enjoy a 'change of scenery' each month. April must have seemed like a long month for some reason because all week, they were talking about moving to their "May seats". They were quite excited to get into the car this afternoon and sit in their "new May seats". LOL!

August 2006

The "old system"

Nobody cared where they sat...aaahhh...the good 'ole days

Celebrating their "new May seats"!
May 1, 2008

We did also end up incorporating a "kid of the day" type system when we started to have arguments about what t.v. show to watch. We instituted a "t.v. helper". The "t.v. helper" of the day is in charge of picking out the shows to watch and is responsible for turning on and off the tv and any other remote control jobs. The "t.v. helper" position did end up growing to include a few more, regular jobs, and has turned out to be a great thing to fall back on when there is a dispute that is really hard to make "fair" for everyone.

Our May 2008 calendar in the kitchen.
The tv helper's initial is recorded at the bottom of each day.
I know this picture will crack me up when I am old and gray
because every month in our calendar has had those initials for the last few years.
Aaaaahhhh, the memories that I'm sure I'll appreciate. ;)

All bickering problems solved...right...NOT!! LOL! I refused to use any sort of order for who gets to run up the stairs first, who gets to go potty first, who gets to brush their teeth first, who gets to have the first poured cup of milk, or the first waffle out of the toaster. No, there were still plenty of tears shed in our house over being first, or not being first, or not being last, or ALWAYS being last. But, we do what we can.