Peace Basket

Okay, so I know I wrote a whole post about how Montessori hasn't really worked for us, but I just couldn't resist the idea of a Peace Basket for P and J.  Now it may (or may not) come as a surprise to learn that I have some issues dealing with P and J's behaviour.

You might have thought we lived some kind of harmonious, peaceful existence where the girls and I hold hands and talk through all our issues, but that just isn't the case.  Both girls are very stubborn and time out is a well used technique in this household.

 So I thought a peace basket would be a helpful addition to our disciplinary techniques.  I got the idea from Counting Coconuts peaceful space.  My basket is much simpler than her space, partly because P and J are younger, but also because when they need some time out they are usually very angry, and too many things would frustrate them further.

My peace basket consists of the word peace printed on a piece of paper.  I really loved these peace cards, but since both P and J are pre literate, it seemed a little pointless although they are very beautiful.

A shell from Rarotonga, so that the girls have to be quiet and calm and to hear the sea, and a crystal that we got in Egypt.

 And a finger labyrinth, made using this tutorial on Rhythm of the Home, that they can trace around and calm down with.  A really important consideration for us was that there was nothing breakable in the basket, since my children are likely to throw/break things.  As it is, P has already threatened to throw the shell.

The idea is to give the girls some tools to help them gain some self control when they are struggling with big emotions.