GYLT and spilled tea

Last week Andrew did a family night lesson on SAST (small and simple things, or sucking at something, whichever you prefer). This week he did a family night lesson on GYLT (getting your life together, which we decided was pronounced the same as "guilt"). 

GYLT is a principle Andrew saw from an academic who schedules time blocks in her day to GYLT (simply doing the things that need to be done—things like responding to that email you've been meaning to get to, cleaning off your desk, paying that medical bill...whatever). It's not a bad idea, though the way she blocks out every minute of her waking hours with something stresses me out. I'm sure she's very efficient, though. 

I find myself needing blocks of time where nothing is scheduled so I don't have to feel guilty when my day gets derailed. I don't think that means I don't get things accomplished...it just means that sometimes when your nine-year-old daughter is making breakfast for herself, she bumps up against the hot kettle while she's trying to make toast, which makes her jerk her arm away from the kettle, knocking over the hot cup of water she'd just poured into a mug to steep her tea, soaking herself with recently-boiled water, and burning her torso. 

So sometimes you leave a little late for campus and...if my whole day was mapped out, I'd probably feel...more stressed out than I already do. But my day is not blocked out for every waking minute. My schedule is more general. I'm probably less efficient than Dr. Mirya Holman, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that she doesn't have six kids to worry about...so...I think different ways of scheduling time are valid and we can learn things by looking at other ways of organizing our lives.

Andrew's lesson wasn't about scheduling out every minute of every day. Instead it was looking at how to organize ourselves and treat our homes and bodies like temples by...cleaning up after ourselves (and cleaning up ourselves). You'd be surprised how much parenting time is spent reminding pre-teen boys to take showers (or maybe you aren't that surprised at all). 

Anyway, Zoë said the family prayer after FHE and scripture study and we all started laughing when she said, "And we're thankful for GYLT..."

*****

Zoë is reportedly feeling much better after her little incident this morning, poor thing. I felt particularly bad about it because I was in the bathroom getting dressed and wanted some privacy (something hard to come by with a toddler in the house). I had closed my bedroom door (because Phoebe has trouble opening it so it's a good way to assure privacy) but hadn't locked it. Phoebe can open the door, but it just buys me some time. So, I heard the door open and called out, "Don't come in! I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay," Zoë said, and closed the door behind her.

I just...finished getting ready for the day, quite unhurried because I assumed the interruption had been merely that. But, no! The interruption was an emergency. 

So, Zoë cleaned up the spilled tea and was ready to report when I came downstairs. 

"Zoë!" I exclaimed when she showed me her burns. "If I tell you to go away because I'm in the bathroom...it doesn't count if it's an emergency! You say, 'But Mom, I just burned myself!' and then I will know to hurry!"

Alternatively, she could have woken up Andrew (who was still asleep in bed, quite a luxury for him because he's so often the first one up). 

Anyway, we cooled her burns and she's feeling much better.