Daily Planner

I saw this Daily Planner from One Step Ahead and went crazy over it. My mom of course remembered and bought it for Brant last year for his birthday. I think its a great item.

Pros:

• Opportunity to talk to Brant and Mason about the days of the week, weather, month, seasons, etc. My favorite part is the "feeling" category. One time Mason was really mad and hit Brant. I took them both up to the chart and I held up the "mad" face. I said, Mason are you mad? He said, "YES!" We talked about why he was mad and how its ok to feel mad but you cannot break the rules while you are mad. "It's ok to feel mad but it's not ok to hit Brant because you feel mad. Now that you hit Brant, he is now sad (I take out the "sad" face)." Brant chimed in, "yeah and Brant wants to feel happy (takes out "happy" face)." It lightens up the mood which makes it easier for all of us to talk about how they are feeling and what happened, etc. During these talks I also refer to the list of rules that is written out and hung in our kitchen. I think knowing what is expected of them helps everyone stay on track.
• It's interactive. I'll say, "Go look out the window and tell me if the sun is out." Or we see/hear rain and the puddles the rain is making. While we are looking at the rainy weather we usually always see an animal running in the rain, bathing in the rain or drinking the rain water. We talk about how everything is wet, how the clouds are gray, or how everyone takes a bath, etc.
• I like the size of it
• There are a row of numbers on the bottom. It helps them strengthen counting skills.

Con:

• It's tough keeping track of the pieces.