The Duggar Family

Okay, I have to admit that I am fascinated by this family.

Dunno why, but I am.

I am obviously not the only one - these people have a whole TV series about their family.

Anyway, for those of you who don't know about them . . . they are an Arkansas family with 18 children (two sets of twins) and they homeschool each child.

I recently read their book, "20 and Counting".

It was a fast read and I really enjoyed it (I am now the resident expert on this family. ha ha!).

They have some neat ideas that I just might use in my own family of . . . ahem . . . 5. :) A far cry from 20, but it is still a family. lol

One of these ideas is "Blanket Time".

• Basically, the mother needed a way to keep her babies/toddlers occupied in one place for a time. Either while she sewed, or worked with older children, or attended a baby shower, etc.
• She starts training her children by spreading a blanket on the floor and excitedly calling for the child/ren to come for "blanket time".
• She talks about how much fun it will be to have blanket time and really acts enthused.
• She has the child sit down and she pulls out a special toy for the child to play with. The toy only comes out during blanket time.
• The child is expected to sit on the blanket with the toy. If the child gets up, the mom gently encourages the child back to the blanket.
• She starts training the child for 5 minutes at a time. Gradually, she adds more time.
• She amazed her friends at a baby shower when her toddler/babies sat on her blanket for half an hour without getting up!

I tried this with Liv today. It was a HUGE success (day one, let's see how day two goes). She loved it. I stayed with her the whole time. It turns out that I even enjoyed blanket time with her. She loved her boundaries of the blanket. Even after the timer went off we stayed on the blanket and sang songs with finger plays (the eensy weensy spider and things like that). She has never seen me do those before and kept asking me to do it again. It was really fun.
Also, while she sat, I scooted a little way from her and looked through some school books. The goal is to teach her SELF-DISCIPLINE while I am working with something else (but still staying close to her).
When I was all done with blanket time, I tried to put the blanket away. She would have nothing to do with it. She wouldn't let me fold the blanket up. She wanted to stay!
She even brought the blanket into the computer room while I checked email.

My special toys?
Welllll, first I used puzzles. She loves them anyway.
Then in the computer room I gave her ...(gulp)... money. Money and a piggy bank. She doesn't put money into her mouth, so I don't worry. She had a ball putting coins into the bank and it kept her on the blanket for about 8 minutes! Yay!

If anyone else tries this, let me know how it works.