There is a fine line between crazy and genius and much of my family straddles this line. This post just might be on the crazy side.
It all started with sick kids and sippy cups. My kids were sick all the time, so in an effort to decrease the spread of germs, I assigned each kid a sippy cup in their favorite color. Elle was green; Crew was blue; and Croft was pink. They were not to drink from any other color.
This worked well and it made my life easier so I color coded other things like our family calendar, Easter baskets, and dry erase markers. This summer I’ve got color coded beach towels, goggles, bubbles, jump ropes, water bottles, and tote bags.
Now Locke came along and messed everything up (there are 3 basic colors in kid stuff: blue, green, or pink). So he gets the next most common color which is usually orange or yellow.
I love color coding for a few reasons. First, I have one less decision to make in the store when I am picking out stuff for my kids. Second, it also decreases fighting and confusion. I know at a glance whose is whose and so do the kids. Third, color coding increases accountability and ownership. If the pink towel is left out on the grass, Croft has to pick it up. And if the blue dry erase marker gets left out without a cap; then Crew is without a marker.
You max out on color coding at about 4 colors. Beyond that it gets hard to stay consistent. That’s a good enough reason for me to stop at 4 kids. So am I crazy or genius?
Definately genius.
If you’re a genius, then I’m a genius too! 😉 I actually have only color coded the boys’ waterbottles. I haven’t necessarily gone as far as beach towels and jumpropes…maybe that’s jumping to the crazy level:) Actually it’s a great idea and when Lily can differentiate her colors and actually becomes a participating factor I will definitely put the craziness into affect.
Genius!
Now I understand why you don’t like it when I randomly pick a lid color for the kid’s sippy cups.
Genius! I will definitely be implementing this one. We will start with the sippys.
Genius!!!! Love it!
I’ve done the same thing since just having 2 kids. First came girl and boy and they were pink and blue obviously. Then my third came along and he’s a boy so he’s green. We’re now expecting our fourth and it’s a girl so she’ll be purple(when I can find it) or orange/yellow (when I can’t find purple). It’s always worked well for us also!
PS we’re stopping at 4 also 😉 smart lol