Blanket Time

by Meagan DeLong

(After reading on Meagan's blog about this creative way of teaching her children, she agreed to write a brief article on this topic for all the Heart to Heart moms!  I know this will be very helpful to all who follow her example!  Why not give it a try in your home!)

Before our second child was born, I decided to teach Karis (18 months) how to enjoy "Blanket Time," so that she would learn to sit and play quietly while I nursed the baby.  It was a lot of work at first, but it was definitely worth it later on!  I gave Karis some toys that I knew she loved, usually sensory things like beans, linking cubes, a box of Christmas bows, etc. and instructed her to play on the blanket and not get off.  The first week my goal was ten minutes, and I planned to raise it five minutes every week until she could do thirty minutes (hopefully enough time to change and nurse the baby).

The first day I spent the whole time disciplining her for getting off the blanket, but the second day she played for fifteen minutes without even looking up at me!  I love this idea for so many reasons: it teaches her patience, obedience, and how to sit still better.  It is also really good for her to learn to play by herself and I just love hearing her talk to the toys and interact without my help.  It also makes beans and other small sensory things so much easier to clean up since they have to stay on the blanket.  With my second child, I started shortly after she turned a year old.  It is amazing how many things I can straighten or organize during that short window of time!