Learning From 1-1

Today was a learning experience for me and my twin boys, age 7. The "Make-Up Minutes" aspect of The 1-1 Parenting Principle gave my boys a positive learning experience, and made me proud as a father.

At the beginning of the day, one boy had given me 10 minutes in the past couple days, and his brother had given me 20 minutes. As I am the home teacher during the COVID-19 pandemic, I wanted my boys to learn more than what is given by their teachers. I wanted them to learn to love learning.

After home school was completed, we played a learning game. I wrote words on a whiteboard and the first boy to say the word out loud, I would redeem a minute. By the end of the 15 minute game, one boy had his 15 minutes fully redeemed, and his brother had all but 3 minutes redeemed.

Here's the extra bonus thing that happened next. I started sweeping the floor in our home, and the boy that had 3 minutes left suddenly started sweeping the floor with a hand broom and dustpan. I didn't even ask him to help me! Home school was all done. He had the opportunity to go play, but he stayed and decided to help me. After he was done, I thanked him and showed him as I removed his last few minutes.

He had such as sense of pride in himself, and I mirrored my pride of him. He had such a sense of confidence and the two of us became closer today in our relationship.