Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne

I just finished this book this morning while Everly slept in until 10:00AM! Whoo!! It was an interesting read but I won't be purchasing this book. I like the author's main idea which is obviously simplifying your life and your child's life.

I love the idea of simplifying you life, you child's life and in turn your parenting. Right now we live in a small duplex and I'm constantly wanting to gut stuff out! I feel overwhelmed and claustrophobic with all the stuff we have. I think Payne takes the idea of simplification to extreme and I don't agree with many of his ideas but Ive summarized below what I liked about his book. 
The author, Payne argues four areas to simplify. The first is the environment. You start off by organizing and de-cluttering the toys and the home in general. Throw away the old broken toys and the annoying ones. Look for toys that leave room for imagination and play. He suggests keeping some toys in storage and switching them out every so often. I guess you need hidden storage for that option. When you simplify your stuff in your home it leaves a clean peaceful feeling. Keep the main living areas free of clutter so children have room to play, imagine and grow.
The second area he calls rhythm. What Payne means by this is create a routine in your home. For example, mom does bath time, dad helps with instrument practice, reading time as a family after dinner, or  quiet time before dinner. Kids love routine's. Create daily routine's in your family when possible.  Have the kids help make dinner and set the table. Give everyone jobs that they know they are in charge of. Keep your routine as consistent as possible. Even with busy schedules you can create some sort of routine. Payne suggests taking time each night to talk to your children about what happened that day. You can ask specific questions like "what was something good about today?" "what was something bad?" "what would you do different?".  He also suggests going over what's going to happen the next day or the plan just to give the child some security. You can also use this time to ask your child what they are excited/nervous/happy/scared about for the next day.
The third area is schedules. This one kinda speaks for itself. Simplify your schedule. Make time together as a family. Quality time is so important for children. Children don't need every minute of their day scheduled. They don't need to be involved in every activity. Parents also need to keep a simple schedule. I love the idea of 'tuning out the world.' Unplugging our phones, TV, ipad, etc. to really just be together uninterrupted.  Payne goes in to details and specifics on how bad TV is for kids!
The last area is called filtering out the adult world. Payne argues that we need to keep adult conversations in front of our children to a minim. Talk about adult things with your spouse in private and defiantly don't discuss adult issues with your children. Don't worry your children with politics or world disasters. Let them be carefree!!

Overall I like the main ideas. I think Payne takes them too far with his suggestions but I do want to keep my home and life simple for me and my kids!