The other day, my darling Magne felt like building a train track 5 minutes before “coats-and-hats-on-and-out-of the-door-NOW”!
He’s also at that age where he hates having to wear his snowsuit when it’s cold. In a split second, there was the prospect that all the morning fun would be replaced with a screaming boy on the hallway floor.
This is something most parents have probably experienced – to a greater or lesser extent.
Fewer “meltdowns” with pictograms
We recently started using the pictograms from Ciha because we were in need of a tool to more easily create structure and overview in our everyday lives and replace the “meltdowns” that, in the afternoons, could easily arrive one after the other.
Back to Magne, the train track and the snowsuit:
“Okay sweetie, let’s just have a look at the board” and the crisis was averted 👍🏼 No exaggeration – in this case, it was all that was needed!
Even the unpredictable things have become easier to deal with. It even makes it easier to be the adult, who always has to be ten steps ahead. The children are also more easily included in our daily activities, so they experience the joy that comes with contributing positively to the community that they are a part of, and that they make a significant difference. With the pictograms as my new accomplice, we also managed to get out of some bad habits. For example, for a long time now, I have been tired of the kids eating breakfast on the sofa. I wanted them out in the kitchen, so we didn’t have to go to and from them during the many changes that go on throughout the morning. The change happened without the children even really noticing it. There it was up on the board, so they never questioned it🧡
There are of course many ways to do it, and no family structure and routines are exactly alike. We have chosen to put the pictograms up on a magnetic board – just one from Ikea – and divided them more generally into the days of the week. We have put tape on the back of the pictograms, but you can also use blu-tack, as we have done in the bathroom.
This is what our weekly board and bathroom looks like:
I think the pictograms from Ciha are the most beautiful I’ve seen! And to be honest, it is quite important to me to enjoy looking at the things that take pride of place in my home.
I love that thought has been put into personalities, and that you colour in your family yourself so the pictograms look like the family members they are being used by. I even updated one car to a van, after we learnt the hard way that this was a clarification that Magne needed 😅 And if we’re missing a motif, I simply draw it on one of the blank cards included.
Highly recommended👍🏼
Pictograms are for everyone🌱
Kind regards, Natascha
Leave a Reply