I noticed that children don't always pay attention to their surroundings.

They are taught to follow from a young age. To help my children think for

themselves, I allow them to be 'in charge' sometimes when we go into stores.

I give them the list of items that we need before we leave the house. Once

we arrive, it is their responsibility to locate all of the items, with my

supervision of course. Where the leader goes, we follow.

The first time, we probably made several trips around the large store. My 7 year old was totally lost as to which way to go but he was paying attention for the first

time. He started noticing how the store was laid out. The second time, he

started analyzing the design. The third time, he understood.

This is a time consuming process that takes patience (and a good pair of walking

shoes) but has really paid off in attentiveness and awareness. We give the

responsibility of finding the car in the parking lot to the 4 year olds.

Start that one at church where the parking lot is familiar.

Ronda

(aka Rugby of RugbyHS Web Design)

Visit my blog at RugbyHS or my current design project at BlogDesign.