Shut the front door! — Home with Littles

There's a video circulating called “Why moms yell.” It shows a mom asking her children, politely, to put on their shoes about 10 times. You know how it ends.

Fun fact: The amount of time needed to get out the door is inversely related to how early those sadists at work scheduled your first meeting.

Figure 1A: chart explaining the time/shoe continuum, and its various relational values.

I’ve started using something that helps. A lot.

It’s our Get Out the Door chart.

I was skeptical it would work. After all, Sweetpea seems to very much relish playing piano, building block houses, hashing out a drama between Elsa and Anna Barbies, etc; basically, anything but getting ready in the morning. But she was *delighted* to mark off each of her tasks. Whenever she would start to lose focus, I’d send her over to the chart and she’d scurry off to do the next thing.

I’m going to make one for bedtime too.

Potty, check. Breakfast check.  Teeth brushed, clothes on, shoes on, check, check, check.  I mean, ice cream, watermelon, donut.  Blue blob, check (it's a book for nap time at pre-school). — Potty, check. Breakfast check. Teeth brushed, clothes on, shoes on, check, check, check. I mean, ice cream, watermelon, donut. Blue blob, check (it's a book for nap time at pre-school).

If you’re thinking, “Yeah that’s nice, but I ain’t got time to be making charts,” Imma ‘bout to blow your mind. Okay, that’s a little much. I'm not talking Oprah, free car level, just "hey, that's nice!" level.

I made a Get Out the Door Chart for you.

You have some options on how to use it:

Print as needed, let your little mark an x next to each completed task
Print, then laminate; let your little mark x with a dry-erase marker
go full Martha Stewart and laminate the chart + included badges, then add velcro for tacking the badges next to each task (links to resources for the velcro and laminator - they’re actually pretty inexpensive - are in the download)
I've left a space for your little to draw/paste a picture of whatever thing it is they *must* have at all times - you know, the thing that when you've already driven halfway to preschool and you realize it's sitting on the kitchen counter, and you break into cold sweats and try to act like nothing's wrong.
Despite my efforts to be an equal opportunist when it comes to colors and clothing, Sweetpea has thwarted my whole "see, I'm progressive" plan and only wants things that are purple, pink and dresses. So if you have a little who would be offended by a pink shoe or a blue jacket, I've included a "boy" option and a "girl" option.

If you’re noticing that the backpack looks a lot like the Skip Hop kitty one: it is. That's Sweetpea's. She's very excited about its internet debut.