Bees Make Honey, I Make Poor Life Decisions

Are they smarter than you? Probably not, but they’ve been on this planet for a very short while and aren’t gonna know everything you know because you’ve been taught it and they haven’t. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t treat them like people. In fact, treating them like people is going to make them better people. Explain your actions to help them explain their’s. Communicate your feelings so they can too. Let them make small decisions so when the big decisions happen they can make them. Teach them. Make mistakes and acknowledge them so they can too.

I gave a girl a full on apology because I yelled at her when I thought she was hurting another kid. She wasn’t, it was friendly roughhousing. I made a mistake, took her aside, and told her I was sorry for yelling at her, I misunderstood, and it was wrong of me to yell at her and assume things without having all the facts. Why? Because it is what you do. You apologize when you make those mistakes. You show you know what you did wrong and say that you’re sorry. And you should especially do this with kids so they can know how to apologize, that treating people like that is wrong, and that people in charge can still make mistakes.

These are people. And at some point they’re going to be adult people and doing all the adult things. As an adult person, you are responsible for making sure they’re able to do the adult things.

And even if you never have kids, you should still understand that they have to learn and that they haven’t yet. That kid from the table over may be loud, but they haven’t been taught inside voice yet. It may be annoying, but you give grace. The same way you do a new employee or intern. The same way you do when you start dating someone and you’re both getting to know each other and what drives you both mad. It takes time, and you need to be patient.

Now, I’m a college student on summer break, so I have more time than someone working does (which means more time for guilt over not doing things, hurray), but you can add in things like your work hours into the schedule.

My schedule is as follows:

Wake up 8-9:30

9:30-11:30 roll for activity A

11:30-12:30 lunch

12:30-2:30 break

2:30-4:30 roll for activity B

4:30-5:30 break

5:30-8:00 dinner

8:00-10:00 break

10:00 bedtime

If you notice, there are scheduled breaks. These are very important! Even if it’s doing something you like, you need to make sure they’re there cause otherwise you’ll burn out. Also, remember to include meals cause if you’re like me, you forget to eat when engrossed in activities.

You’ll also notice my dinner is a large time period. This is because I’m home for the summer and do not determine when I eat dinner since my dad cooks. You don’t need a huge chunk of time for that if you control what you eat, just enough time to cook, eat, and then maybe do dishes (depending on your circumstances and how you feel).

Now, the roll for activity spots are the special part to this. What you want to do is take all the things you want to do and assign a number to them. Make sure that number is even, because we’re using dice. Then, you’ll roll the dice at the beginning of the time and do the activity for that time period.

So this is where it gets a bit more complicated/personal. I split my options into two different groups, hence A vs B. I also created sub sections. So, for example, if I roll a 3 during activity B, I do traditional art. But I made it so there’s a second dice roll for that which has more specific things for me to do. You can also have fun and make charts, which I did and included some here.

Now, if you have an uneven amount of activities, don’t worry! You can add a reroll or a dealer’s choice. I included a do activity A in mine (meaning I either do whatever I rolled for A or I roll for activities from A). You can add whatever as long as it isn’t stuff like scrolling or stuff that keeps you in bed.