To Every Child, Turn...Turn...Turn...

When we really started to do the weekly schedule the way it works best for our family I thought it'd also be nice to start a child rotation too. It's hard to give each child their special time with so many little ones with constant needs, so giving each child a special day works out great for us. If you only have one or two children, or haven't started a family yet this won't be an issue for you, but you may find some special ways to show your child your full attention.
We give each of our children a day of the week starting with oldest first and ending with Amelia. On their special day they get to help choose what we'll eat for the day. This is a great honor in our home because that means they get to have what THEY like best.=) Because everyone will get their own day it cuts out on being upset about not getting what each child wanted. The special day child also gets to either go get the mail(if old enough) or go with mom or dad to get the mail. This is another big deal for our kids for whatever reason. They really like to see what we got in the mail. The special day child gets to help with dinner, set the table, and go on any special trips that mom or dad may need to make in the day(or evening). They get to choose where they'd like to sit at the table first, and where everyone else sits.
There are also some special things that make each child feel extra special in their own "language" in our family. For instance, Emma Claire's day is Tuesday, which is town day. If you know EmC you know that the child LOVES food. Since town day usually involves a special treat at the end, Emma Claire gets to choose what it is(within reason, because that child would choose the biggest anything if I'd let her). I'll point her in the right direction of the .50 candy and let her pick what she thinks looks the best, then split the candy among the three girls. For now Isaiah is still fine with graham crackers or a banana. Ha! Lulu really likes to help in the kitchen, so when it's her day(Monday) I usually try to really let her cook something good. She recently made our entire meal on her own(with me watching over her shoulder). Addison really likes to cuddle, so I always try to let her choose the book and sit in my lap for reading time on her special day. Isaiah just wants to have my time, so on his day I will take him to his room, dump out all the trucks and cars, and spend time on the floor showing him how to make cars go vroooom. Try to think of what will make your Little's feel extra special on their day. Sometimes Scotty will leave them a little note before he goes to work. It's little things that will fill their tiny cup up and overflowing with love and happiness.
Small things like who's going to sit by momma at story time and who's going to get me a burp rag for Amelia when she spits up are solved by me saying, "Who's day is it?!" They quickly remember that on THEIR day they'll get special privileges too and are ready to let the special day kid have their own glory! It's been a really good way for us to be sure to give each of our kids the attention we think they deserve.

We also have a buddy system that is in the making as we speak. We've waited until now to start it because I didn't want to give too much responsibility to anyone until they were ready. Now that Olivia has been around FOUR times for a new baby I thought we'd try it and see if she's ready. If not, we'll wait and maybe pick it back up another time. Most people who use the system start with child #5 or when the oldest child is 8. Olivia is almost 7, so she's still a little young, but we are on #5 already, so we'll see...Olivia is the big buddy and Amelia is her little buddy.

Here's how the trial run is working so far:

• Big buddy helps change little buddy's diapers(Olivia will help more with this when Amelia is a little older. Newborns are so stiff it's kind of hard to change them!) She does help though.
• Big buddy gets little buddy dressed for the day.
• Big buddy helps feed little buddy(she can't do this yet, but will help when we get to baby food. She's REALLY excited about this one!)
• Big Buddy makes sure little buddy is in her carseat.
• Big buddy helps with little buddy while driving in the car.
• Big buddy holds little buddy while mom is busy with dinner.
• Big buddy gets to take part of any activity little buddy get to do on their special day.
• Big buddy gets to eat the food little buddy doesn't eat(if appropriate).
• Big buddy helps little buddy with chores.
• Big buddy helps little buddy with school work.

As you can tell from this picture, Olivia is pretty sure of herself with Amelia. She is GREAT with her.

Like I said, we haven't had much experience with this yet, but The Duggar's Book and LFL both talk about how they use the buddy system in good detail. I'd say read up on those if it's really something you'd like to start in your own home. If you have any questions on it I'll try and answer though.