I find it interesting, given the interesting discussion on praise that we just had, that Valentine’s Day is creeping around the corner.  It may seem unrelated to some, but in my mind if there is one thing that is an even more powerful reinforcer for children than praise it is love.  Pure, unconditional love.  That can be shown through the words you say, the actions you take, and the time you spend together.

So with that in mind, I think it’s time to enjoy some Valentine’s Day fun with the little ones we love and teach.  Show them love, celebrate love, talk about love, and help them show it to others.  Here are a few links for some great Valentine’s Day ideas.

Here at NJC:

Valentine Art You Can’t Buy

Turn to an Old Custom for a New Tradition on Valentine’s Day

Will You Be My Valentine? (Includes links to the Candy Heart Count activity with its new and improved printable!)

Valentines, Friends, and Communication (Study unit with activities.)

I’ve also found loads of great Valentine’s Day activities and printables that I’ve been pinning to my Valentine’s Pinterest board.  Among my faves:  Treats like these Valentine Jelly Pops, lots of printable Valentine’s like this one, and awesome creative activities like this tree of hearts collage.

And you may want to pick up a lovey dovey free printable for yourself like this, this, or this  (pictured at top).

More than anything else, find Simple Ways to Show Your Kids You Love Them.

I’ll be back next week with more Valentine’s Day activities, and linking up with Mandi Ehman of Life…Your Way, where you’ll find V-Day ideas galore!

Because I follow the brilliant Janet Lansbury on Facebook, I have come across several interesting posts about praise recently.  In one of those, Lisa Sunbury of Regarding Baby shared her thoughts in  Praise Not , a read I would recommend.  All this reading got me thinking about praise.

It can be a tricky subject, the whole debate about praise and rewards.  I’ve posted about it in the past in a panel discussion and I’ve also written about the potential for backfire when we rely too much on praise (see Praise Junkies Beware).

I wrote about it in my ebook, and I teach about it in classes.  It can be a tricky subject to comprehend.  You hear people saying you shouldn’t praise your kids, and suddenly you’re left wondering, “So what can I say?”

I usually explain it by teaching about the difference between encouragement and judgment.  The terminology is less important.  Feel free to call it what you like.  The important thing is how you do it, not what you call it.

Praise and Judgment

Praise becomes a problem when it is administered too liberally, meaninglessly, and generically.  It backfires when it’s used as a label or when children are manipulated or conditioned to seek outward approval.

But a problem arises when adults learn about the down side of praise and ride the pendulum all the way to the other side trying to censor themselves, resisting every urge to say anything that might possibly be kind of sort of like praise.  No more compliments, no more high fives.  That might be taking it a bit far.

There is great power in positive reinforcement, and as I meantioned earlier, it isn’t so much about what you call it, it’s how you do it.  Here are some tips I share in my ebook and classes to help adults recognize how to give encouragement (or effective praise, if that makes you feel better).

Encouragement

I think this quote from Robert Martin draws a great contrast between encouragement and praise:

“Taking an interest in what people are thinking and doing is often a much more powerful form of encouragement than praise.”

Encouragement is more about acknowledging and taking a sincere interest and less about labeling people, efforts, or work with your own judgment.

So back to the question, what do you say?

Be Genuine

Make your comments sincere.  Don’t shovel out accolades for commonplace things.  If you sincerely appreciate how a child carefully hangs up his jacket, say so.  “Thank you for hanging your coat up.  That sure helps keep the cubby area clean.”  But if you dish out overenthused comments children will sniff out your lack of sincerety.  (“Oh, awesome job!  You are the most amazing coat-hanger-upper I’ve ever seen!”)

Be Specific

The generic “Good Job” gives no feedback.  It doesn’t help a child know what behavior you’re referring to.  And, overused, it eventually carries no meaning at all.  Be specific and descriptive with your comments.  Even, “Good listening”  gives less information than, “You sat with your body still and your eyes right on me.  It looked like you were working very hard to listen carefully.”

Avoid Judgement

Be careful about passing out labels.  Responding to a child with “That’s awesome!” seems harmless enough, but handing out such a label may actually reinforce work that the child thinks was sub-par and done with little effort.

Labeling with your own judgment also conditions children to seek their value from the opinions of others.  These pattern of people-pleasing can lead to plenty of struggles down the road.

Ask Them

Instead of emphasizing your opinion, ask what they think.  “Tell me about what you did at circle time today.”  “Tell me about your painting.”  “Wow, you used a lot of blocks in this structure.  Tell me about it.”  All of these comments show genuine interest, allow the child to evaluate his/her own work (which enhances executive functions), and will give you more insight into a child’s thoughts, passions, and capabilities.

Recognize Effort and Progress, Not Just the End Product

When you really think about what you’re encouraging, it isn’t the outcome — the outstanding work, the happy child.  You’re actually trying to encourage the work it takes to get there.  So comment on and take interest in that work. 

“You’ve really stuck with that.  You’re working really hard.”  “It looks like that’s getting a little easier.  You must have been practicing.”

You want children to understand it isn’t about who they are but what they consistently do that’s important.  So genuinely emphasize the actionable work they do, get their input, and be interested without being judgemental.  You’ll find the influence these responses have on the children you love and teach are more effective and more positive for your child’s development.

What do you think?  How do offer encouragement in a healthy way?

Top photo source.

Center photo source.

Articles:

Can You “Enforce” Your Limits Without Force? {Aha! Parenting}

Family Time: Dating Your Family {Childhood 101}

How to Be Awesome at Everything {Jon Acuff link via Life….Your Way}

On Gifts and Talents {Momastery}

Activities:

Join the Next Creative Challenge {Tinker Lab}

Personalized Alphabet Book (pictured above) {Modern Parents Messy Kids}

Exploring Snowflakes {Chocolate Muffin Tree}

10 Simple No-Mess Crafts for Tots {Frugal Family Fun Blog}

Have a great weekend!

Top photo.

“We treat everybody the same.”

It was an innocuous comment really.  Assuredly said with the best of intentions.

So why did it get under my skin?

Let me make a few things clear before I begin to blur the common definition of fairness.  I do think children need consistency and that they do rise to our (appropriate) expectations.  That said, however, I don’t believe that “fair” means everyone gets the same thing.  To me, “fair” means everybody gets what they need.

It’s certainly easier to work with absolutes.  And it’s certainly a challenge to ascertain individual needs and address them appropriately.  There’s plenty of room for error.  But there’s also a better chance that you can effectively get to the heart of a child when you see them as that.  A child.  Each one.  Not a cluster of children, but an individual.

Perhaps my personal philosophies regarding the whole child, the individual learner, implementing developmentally appropriate practices, and working within the zone of proximal development are to blame. 

Maybe it’s years of experiences working with children seeing their uniqueness and trying to meet individual needs. 

When I taught first grade, for example, I had two or three children in particular who struggled more than your average first-grader when it came to sitting at the rug.  A one-size-fits-all philosophy would suggest that anyone who can’t sit at the rug like everyone else earns the consequence of sitting with their head down at their seat, spends some extra time inside during recess, or takes a time out.

“We treat everybody the same” seems to suggest that you either sit at the rug like everybody else or you receive a negative consequence.  But I saw it differently.  These kids weren’t like everybody else.  The task of sitting knee to knee with their friends on the rug was particularly challenging for various personal reasons.  Why would I treat everybody the same when they weren’t?

Our solution?  Whenever these children came to the rug, they could choose to sit in their chair at the rug (near the back so it wouldn’t get in the way).  Sometimes they chose to sit on the rug “like everybody else”.  Sometimes that worked.  Sometimes it didn’t, and all I had to do was ask if it would be easier to bring over a chair.  They either worked harder at this challenging task and succeeded or they used appropriate accommodations to help them succeed.

Perhaps the most ingrained experience I’ve had with “treating everybody the same” was when I worked as an alternative language aid for new immigrants in an elementary school.  It was a position I enjoyed, but toward the end of the year, it was my job to administer the standardized tests to some of the students I had worked with.  Some had been in this country for only a few months, and yet, because we had to “treat everybody the same” I was not allowed to give directions to them in their own language. 

It killed me to look at these bright children looking blankly at these papers.  They were bright kids.  But we couldn’t treat them any differently.  That wouldn’t be “fair”.  “We treat everybody the same.”

The truth of the matter is no one treats everybody the same.  And no one should.  We don’t expect children in wheelchairs to climb the front stairs, we don’t ask children who are blind to read from the same books as the rest of the class, and we don’t insist that deaf children take oral exams.

We’ve learned to recognize the special needs of children and try to meet them where they are and lift them higher.  But doesn’t everyone have a special need?  Some are less obvious and may take great effort to discern, but it’s the same reasoning I use for all children.

Some children need more personal space, others need more social scaffolding.  Some struggle with anxiety, others with impulsivity.  Some need more attention, others need more privacy.  We owe it to the children we love and teach to know them well enough to find their special needs and give them the support they need.  Even if that means treating them differently.

Fair doesn’t mean everyone gets the same thing.  It means everyone gets what they need.

How do you balance the concept of fairness with individual needs?

Photo source.

It’s that time of year again.  Parents everywhere are standing behind one-way windows or sitting on child-sized chairs, trying to peek in on preschool classrooms and hoping to asertain whether or not it’s the right fit for their children. 

I often have people ask me what they should be looking for.  My first answer: You have to know your own child and pay attention to those specific needs and interests.  Once those individual needs are taken into consideration, here are some things I look for in a quality play-based preschool setting, originally posted last year.

This is my dream list, and you have to realize that there are some great programs that won’t have every component I list here. You have to be aware of what your priorities are and what you’re willing to live without or make up for at home.

Structure/Schedule

Free Play. I would want to see about one hour of a part day program devoted to free play. This doesn’t mean everyone in the classroom is running around screaming. This means the children get to choose from a variety of planned and prepared activity areas (discussed below) that they can engage in with little direction from teachers. (Notice I said “little direction” not “little interaction. More on that later too.) This format provides for more valuable social interactions, allows children to be inquisitive and follow their interests at their individual paces, while also teaching children to plan and organize their time.

Large Group. A smaller portion of the day would be spent in a large group setting where all of the children meet together for group games, music and movement, fingerplays, stories, group discussions, or active and appropriate mini-lessons.

Small Groups. Time would also ideally allow for children to be divided into smaller groups for book activities, cooking opportunities, or other projects that require more individualized attention.

Snack. I like to see a snack in the structure, not just because I like food, but because there is a lot that can be taught about social skills in that setting. A little food along the way also helps to keep little bodies on an even keel.

Environment

The preschool room would be inviting, print-rich, and child-centered. Get down on your child’s level and see it through her eyes. Can you see the decorations? Can you reach the supplies? The room should be arranged in a way that invites your child to participate, and teachers should be able to identify the developmental objectives of each activity.

These are the activity areas I would look for in an ideal room:

Dramatic Play. This is the dress-up area. Ideally the props and themes would change from time to time. Language and social skills are strengthened here, along with problem-solving and symbolic thinking (critical for reading and other academic endeavors).

Art. Along with an easel, it’s ideal to see a table in an area that encourages creative art. Supplies may be organized as to be available every day, but ideally the media would change from time to time. I would hope to see more arts than crafts here.

Sensory. Whether it’s a homemade sensory bin or a high-end water table, I’d like to see an area where children can explore a variety of sensory media.

Blocks/Construction/Large Motor. A large open area should be available for block play where children might build with unit blocks as well as a variety of other construction sets like marble tracks, pipes, or tracks. This large open area would also be used for large motor movement activities like obstacle courses or music and movement activities. (Of course it could be so ideal that they have both in two separate spaces! :0)

Small Manip. One area would ideally be devoted for manipulatives that promote fine motor development. This is the place for puzzles, lacing beads, peg boards, and small blocks like Legos.

Writing Area. To encourage literacy, there would be an area of the room with writing supplies (notebooks, clipboards, pencils, crayons, envelopes, etc.) available to the children at any time. Additional writing supplies would be integrated into other areas as props, lists, or sign-up sheets.

Book Shelf. There should be a book shelf in the room that visually calls the children to come and read. The area would ideally include soft areas for the children to plop down with a book. In my ideal scenario, children would be read to in a variety of settings throughout the day: whole group, small group, one-on-one in free choice time, or simply browsing independently.

Outside. In my perfect world, every preschool program has a devoted outside area for the children (which is offered as part of free choice and also integrated into other planned activities.) This area would be safe, but also with natural rough edges. Fancy slides and play equipment are nice, but I’d trade it for a big sandbox, gardens, trees, and bushes.

Teachers

I would hope to observe teacher interactions in the classroom. Teachers would be interacting with children (not just other teachers) during free choice time, questioning, rephrasing, and challenging the children, not just directing or reprimanding them. I would watch for signs of rapport with the children: getting down on their level to make eye-contact, appropriate touch, enthusiasm, positive guidance, and a passion for what they do, as well as a positive response from the children. In a perfect world, a preschool class would maintain a teacher to child ratio of one teacher per four or five children. I would want to know that the teachers were well-trained and that the staff had a low turnover rate.

Questions

If I had the chance to ask questions during an orientation or a visit with the director, in addition to any questions about what I’ve already written above, I’d ask:

What type of communication can I expect? (I’d hope not only for an open-door policy and open communication, but also for newsletters that tell about what’s going on and what’s being learned, not just when I need to pay and when the next parent event is.)

What is your philosophy about play and academics? (I think I’ve made my own opinion clear here.)

What do you do to encourage developmentally appropriate practice? (If the director is unfamiliar with this term, I’d be pretty nervous.)

How do you deal with behavior issues? (I’d be hoping for some positive guidance techniques of course.)

What can I do to help in this program? (I want a program that sees me as a partner, not just a bus driver with a tuition check.)

You’ll want to spend some time thinking about other questions that pertain specifically to your own child’s needs. It’s also a good idea to connect with other parents who have or have had children in the program. (You can ask the director for references.) Parents will give you a different perspective than directors and teachers.

What I’ve described here is my ideal. Keep in mind that you may not find everything in one program. Decide which things are deal breakers and which ones you can compensate for. Each child is different, and responds differently to different details. In the end, you have to go with your gut.

What would you add to my lengthy list? What do you look for?  What other questions do you have as you check out preschools for your child?

Photos by Anissa Thompson. 

Articles:

Growing Veggie Lovers {Peanut Blossom}

The Most Important Thing You’re Teaching Your Child {Aha! Parenting}

Here’s an interesting pair of articles with differing views.  I’d love to hear your perspective!

2011 Lesson #2: Don’t Carpe Diem {Momastery}

Parenting Beyond Kairos {Mama Smiles}

Activities:

Glitter Bottles and Sticky Table…Sticky Wall {Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds}

Repurposed Mitten Puppets {Playful Learning}

Painting with Light {The Artful Parent}

Cardboard City {Frugal Family Fun Blog}

Enjoy your weekend!

Photo source.

In the muggy heat of the summer of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the now famous “I Have a Dream” speech.  He spoke of his dream for a future where children of all races could walk together and ”not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”.  This speech, this man, and this movement are all iconic pieces of American History. 

It is within this context that it becomes even more interesting to note that it was in the year preceeding that, 1962, that the first full-color children’s book featuring a Black child as the main character was released. 

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats tells the story of a boy enjoying the magic of a city blanketed in snow.  The story itself is simple.  But the artistic quality of the book is timeless and its message in that time period is profound.

The book isn’t a message book per se.  It isn’t a book about what it means to be Black.  It’s simply about what it means to be a child on a snowy day.  That’s what makes it so poignant amid the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement.  To me, that communicates more clearly than any overt message book could, the equality of man.  Nothing illustrates life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness like a child wrapped in his favorite snowsuit, exploring the wonder of snow.

It’s been 50 years since that groundbreaking release, and while Ezra Jack Keats produced several other wonderful books featuring Peter, just being Peter, it seems that we could still use more diverse characters in children’s picture books.  Not just in books on the topic of diversity, but in books about the simple, common experiences of childhood.

As I’ve mentioned before, I want my own boys to see characters in books that remind them of themselves, with big blue eyes and even bigger personalities.  But I also want them to read books where they can look into the green, black, and brown eyes that remind them of their friends.   All children deserve to be able to see themselves in a good book, and to see the rest of the world there as well. 

When I try to think of a contemporary book with qualities similar to The Snowy Day, I think first of Please, Puppy, Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee.  The illustrations, by Kadir Nelson, are bright, bold, and beautiful.  And the story itself is pure.  Just two children and their new, mischevious puppy.  The text is simple and lyrical.  It’s certainly a favorite at our house!

So what are some of your favorite children’s books that show the diversity of children simply being children?  I’d love to add to our library!

Check out  this interesting article about the anniversary of The Snowy Day from the Washington Post, with a hat tip to my friend Zina of  Lasso the Moon for sharing it on Facebook.

And if you want to add to your library as well, take a look at these storytime books featuring Black characters from Amazon.

Whenever I start to feel guilty about the fact that I spent the majority of my Christmas vacation wearing my pajamas, I remind myself that I did in fact accomplish something very monumental, right there in my worn-out flannel bottoms and time-softened jersey shirt.  Well, rather, I should say my son accomplished something very monumental.  We cleared the first hurdle of potty-training.

Since mentioning this venture, I’ve had a few friends ask for my “secret” to potty training.

Now, let me say that I’ve now been to this dance with three boys, using the same method.  But just as you would expect with three different boys, I’ve had three different reactions.  I take comfort knowing that two of the three are fully and completely potty trained nonetheless, and I feel pretty confident that the third will arrive there as well.

My method is simple and common: Get a few pairs of undies that are particularly appealing to your child (for one son, this meant we had about 20 pairs in his drawer before finding the one pair that really got him on board).  Let your child choose between the diapers and undies.  For best results, block out as much time as you can to just be at home, with a potty chair in sight and little pressure on your time.  Be calm about mistakes, and enthusiastic about success. And then just roll with it.

That’s essentially my method.  But there are hundreds of different methods out there and millions of success stories to back them up.  To me, the method is less important.  The real secret is in the basic principles that need to be in place, around which a variety of methods can be successful.  Here are those principles, the real secret to potty training.

Principle 1.  It’s about your child’s control, not yours. 

A child is usually ready for potty training right at the peak of a developmentally driven desire for independence, control, and mastery.  This can be maddening at times, but it’s what pushes a child to develop self-help skills (like potty-training) as young children, and (hopefully) sets them on a path that keeps them from slurping up a bowl of Fruit Loops at 11 in the morning from the comfort of their parents’ basements at 35.

So the first principle is to recognize this drive for control and independence and use it properly.  You want your child to learn to address those basic toileting skills independently right?  Then stop trying to exert too much of your own control, and provide as much room as possible for your child’s own self-control.

This means letting your child choose.  It means letting your child choose whether or not to wear the undies and which undies to wear.  It might mean letting your child choose when to use the potty or which potty to use.  It means letting your child be the one to do the flushing.  It means asking if he/she needs to use the potty, rather than carrying them there and forcing them to sit. 

Avoid using methods of force where your child must sit on the potty until until using it, or where you put your child on the pot at pre-set intervals of time.  These methods are all about your control and do little to build your child’s own control.  Now of course, these methods may have “worked” for some, but they’re simply not the most effective or developmentally appropriate approaches.

As much as it most certainly involves you and absolutely requires your attention (and your towels, and your laundry detergent, and….) ultimately, it really is not about you.  You’re already potty trained.

Principle 2.  Failure is necessary.

The second principle of the secret is to remember that failure is necessary.  Your child will need to have a few “accidents” to be able to make all the right cause-effect connections and to recognize his/her own body’s signals and needs.  

Trying to constantly ”save” your child (and yourself) from the inconvenience of these accidents is tempting, but doesn’t help the learning process.  Failure is necessary.  So be ready for that.  Try to hang out in easily cleaned areas (on a spread out blanket, on tile, outside).  Have cleaning supplies at the ready at home and on the go. 

Being prepared and having appropriate expectations takes the edge off of the hassle.  And this is important, because as much as you want to enthusiastically reinforce your child’s accomplishments, it’s important to stay low-key about their accidents.  “Sometimes that happens when you’re learning.”  has a much better effect than, “Are you kidding me!?@?!?”

Avoid any method that endorses punishing accidents.  Your child will not magically develop better control over those sphincter muscles sitting in time-out or by watching your overly-emotional reaction.

Of course, that’s not to say that natural consequences can’t be a good teacher.  Some children learn from the discomfort of sitting in soggy britches.  Others learn that it’s more inconvenient to change clothes than it would have been to have left the toys for a minute to use the bathroom.  After an accident, that favorite pair of undies now needs to go in the wash.  Bummer.  (In some situations, that means we move on to the second-favorite pair.  Other times, it just means we go back to the diaper for a while.)  When appropriate, children can even grab a towel and get involved in the cleaning process, just one more natural consequence.

So those are my two main principles.  My big secret to potty training.  Hopefully they fit in with the method you use with the children you love and teach.

What are the “secrets” you’ve learned about potty training?

• {For more information, check out this fantastic and comprehensive post on potty training by Lisa Sunbury at Regarding Baby: Toilet Learning Made Easy.  Also, check out this “Real Mums” conversation about a variety experiences with potty training over at Childhood 101.}

Top photo source.

Articles:

Curriculum of Curiosity {Camp Creek Blog}

Finding Balance Between Outdoor Safety and Adventure in Preschool (Teach Preschool)

The Biology of Right and Wrong {Harvard Magazine}

Let the Kids Play: They’ll Do Better in School {Time}

Activities:

Make Your Own Paint-with-Water Pages {Creative with Kids}

Homemade Search and Find Walter Wick Inspired I Spy Book {Pink and Green Mama}

Toddler Activity Tray Ideas {The Activity Mom} (These would be great for 3 year olds as well!)

Homemade Rock Candy {Gluesticks}

And check out this old favorite from Not Just Cute, made new for The Organized Parent:  Magic Fizz for Mad Scientists!

Enjoy your weekend!

Top photo source.

Maybe it’s the new year.  Maybe it’s the unseasonably warm January temps.  Or maybe it’s early nesting as we await the arrival of baby number 4 later this year.  Whatever the reason, lately I’ve been consumed with the desire to clean, organize, declutter, and simplify.  I’ve spent the past few weeks setting up stations, systems, and solutions for the hot spots in my home.

It’s amazing what a little organization can do to lower stress, clarify expectations, and even shape attitudes and behaviors (mine as well as the kiddos).  As humans, we truly are influenced by our environments.

I’ve found that I tend to be an all-or-nothing type of cleaner/organizer, so this year I’m trying to remind myself that it’s really about doing just one thing at a time.  Rather than becoming overwhelmed and letting chaos reign (which really would be so easy) it’s the cumulative effect of several small steps in the right direction. 

So here are a few of the steps I’m taking to try to bring a little more organization, simplicity, and purpose to 2012:

First, I corralled my paper clutter with a filing system, like the one pictured above, from Lovely Crafty Home.  I tend to be a stacker, but with these designated files, mail, birthday invitations, and teachers’ notes all have a place to call home.  I also popped a calendar on the front of the filing box by printing these bright, simple, and FREE ones from TomKat Studio.

I completed the station with a home binderfor organizing and recording all the systems that I hope to use to get and keep our home running smoothly.  I’ve pinned several inspiring home binders on my organization board on Pinterest (visit it here). 

Much of my binder consists of pre-made formsfrom Mandi Ehman of Life…Your Way (available for free from her site here).  She’s already created simple, useful forms for almost everything I needed….and a few I didn’t realize I needed until I saw them there! 

Included in my binder is my plan for breaking up the housekeeping into small, manageable chunks.  I have daily tasks for myself, and chore cards organized for my boys. 

I also included this Declutter and Organize Calendar, which takes that huge task of organizing and declutering my whole house and breaks it into small daily duties.  Rather than looking at every nook and cranny of my house as one project -and feeling overwhelmed- this list reminds me to do just. one. thing.  For example, yesterday I organized my spice cupboard.  It took maybe 15 minutes, but if I want a little boost, all have to do is take a peek at that beautiful cupboard.  (Nevermind that I’m still putting away my Christmas decorations.  Baby steps.) 

One more resource that’s guiding me through  the baby steps is Simple Mom creator, Tsh Oxenreider’s ebook,  One Bite at a Time.  Based on the old adage: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”, Tsh outlines 52 projects – one for each week of the year – to guide you to the larger goal of a more organized, simplified lifestyle.

Whether it’s creating an effective morning routine or organizing your finances, Tsh’s ebook breaks each project into manageable steps.  (And through January 10th, it’s on sale for just $4!  Click here to visit Simple Mom.)  It’s organized in such a way that you can follow the challenges in the order they’re presented in the book, or prioritize your tasks and take out your biggest goals first.

It was actually this book that framed my whole perspective as I jumped into this year with a penchant for organizing.  Tsh’s reminder that it’s one bite at a time, one step at a time, keeps me from getting overwhelmed and reminds me to just do something today.

Who knows, maybe by this time next year there will only be a small portion of my “elephant” left!

What are your favorite tips and goals for organizing and preparing in the new year?

Top photo.