All my accounting/consulting working life I thought I was an ENFJ on the MyersBriggs scale. For those not familiar, this means, in a nutshell, that I was a person who made her decisions with referral to others, focuses on the big picture, cares about what others feel and think, and likes order and structure in her life.
HOWEVER I learned that the E and J components of these were a learned behaviour probably from my parents and my accounting work. I am in fact an INFP.
What this means is that in fact I make my decisions pretty internally (without reference to others), focus on the big picture, cares about what others feel and think and I like spontaneity over order/structure.
So to bring order to my larger family life is a struggle for me. And to ask for help when it comes to coping is not natural for me either. As my friends say, if they don't hear from me, they know there is something wrong.
I hate posting negative stuff on facebook or this blog. I don't crave or want sympathy at all, nor pity. But I realise that by bottling it all up sometimes, this is not working.
The whole deal with Myers Briggs is to know when your preference is not working for you.
My J/P (order/spontaneous) side does not work with co-ordinating a large family. So the back to school routine FORCES me to get into order. So it works a lot better for us.
What the school routine does for our family:
1) Ensures tighter bedtime controls
2) Ensures less screen time
3) Means we do things on time generally (dinner, bath, homework, etc) as well as gives me more adult/own time in the evening (yay!)
4) Kids like routine, whether they admit it or not - so better behaviour
5) We all eat better - as I am more organised
6) I find it easier to do the housework in a timely fashion (per schedule!)
I am such a tiger mother! Here is me encouraging T to do some maths workbooks - with his left hand!! He is incredibly ambidextrous - but still not easy! If T does homework, W ALWAYS wants to join him. Here he is colouring in beside T.
This week I have managed to get time alone with each of the children. W LOVES his puzzles still and it is always his choice of Mummy time activity.
(Note the fan in the background - our last electricity bill was astronomical so have cut out air conditioning as much as possible. We are certainly not poor but, sheesh, who can afford those kind of bills?)
Less screen time makes for more play between all the kids. Here they are lining up the daisy connectors. Not sure what the game is, but they are all engrossed!
T discovered a home activity book where you can make fruit ice cubes. Here are apple ice cubes in water - actually very yummy as you crunch through them!
T doing a workbook and helping me bake at the same time. The ultimate is licking the spoon and bowl at end. I got the workbooks (spelling, maths, vocabulary, etc) from ALDI last week. Super cheap and they are really quite fun - T doesn't need much encouragement to do them. I let him choose the pages he wants to do - primarily crosswords, puzzle search for the words ones, and money/fractions/data/time for maths ones.
So I am a happier camper again. Also because at this VERY MINUTE, whilst blogging - I have one child at school and three children asleep. I AM super mum. Well at least for this minute!
Labels: aldi, baking, household management, keeping it real, Large Family, Maths, Photos, routine, school, Spelling
