March can be a time when families find themselves in the thick of the winter blues. That’s why I’m using My Starry Chart to kick our family’s motivation up a notch!
For this month (yet another notch in the COVID Pandemic belt of time), we decided to change the typical routine for My Starry Chart and turn it into a more of a healthy habits game for the whole family. Instead of focusing on our son’s individual responsibilities and goals, we are now looking at it as a family’s My Starry Chart, in which every member of the family is a participant and player. Each of us is trying to accomplish the daily responsibilities with the goal of a fun-filled family activity and experience at the end of the month.
The daily responsibilities are now also being referred to as our “healthy habits” and include doing homework, meditation, exercise, reading and making someone smile 🙂
There are many more responsibilities to choose from (over 80) in the My Starry Chart kit, including the option of creating your own family’s healthy habit (as we did for a few).
We’ve been using My Starry Chart with Sam for over two years now and over time, the use can decrease and stall. That is normal. It is okay to take a break from it, and in fact, this is encouraged. The purpose of My Starry Chart, which is to promote new responsibilities and motivate children and families in improving upon them, can be tiring over time (especially during this time, which for some can be referred to as “pandemic parenting”). By changing up the classic My Starry Chart individual experience to a multi-player one, it has provided an invigorating spirit to the process of fostering healthy habits amongst little ones, and the adults! We are all looking forward to our new routines this month and what better month than the month of March to start this off – there’s so much going on in March!
Notable dates in March 2021 (including some new ones to us and some personal ones – we have a few family birthdays). Many of these notable days can be found in the My Starry Chart sticker packs, and others can be added to the calendar with the dry-erase marker provided in the kit.
- March 1st – Zero Discrimination Day – an annual worldwide event that promotes diversity and recognizes that everyone counts
- March 3rd – World Wildlife Day – it is an opportunity to celebrate the many beautiful and varied forms of wild fauna and flora and to raise awareness of the multitude of benefits that conservation provides to people.
- March 4th – World Book Day – annual celebration of books and reading celebrated by reading, book related activities and dressing up as characters from books.
- March 8th – International Women’s Day – a worldwide celebration of women’s rights and celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
- March 11th – Isra and Mi’raj Dayh – many Muslims in Canada observe Isra and Mi’raj, which commemorates the Prophet Muhammad’s journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and his ascent into heaven.
- March 14th – PI (3.14) day – a day of celebrating the wonder of mathematics, March 14th was chosen because the value of Pi is often taken as 3.14. (Some people also use it as an excuse to eat pie. We may skip that one); also it’s Daylight Savings Time.
- March 15th – The Ides of March – a day that has long been considered an ill-fated day. Julius Caesar was assassinated on this day in 44 B.C.
- March 17th – St. Patrick’s Day – Ireland’s national day is to celebrate the Irish patron saint Patrick. The day is celebrated all around the world with Guinness and shamrock decorations.
- March 18th – Global Recycling Day – a day to recognize and celebrate the importance of recycling in preserving our precious primary resources and securing the future of our planet. It is a day for the world to come together and put the planet first; also it is Sam’s grandmother’s (Carole) birthday – we will eat cake here.
- March 20th – First Day of Spring aka March Equinox; also Sam’s uncle’s (Matt) birthday.
- March 27th – First night of Passover – a Jewish holiday about the Jewish people’s exodus from Egypt or more famously referred to as the Ten Commandments Holiday.
- March 28th – Palm Sunday – many Christians in Canada remember Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, which marks the beginning of Holy Week; it is also Sam’s dad’s (my) birthday – we will eat some sugar-free dessert here.
- March 29th – Piano day – a day for piano players and lovers to share the joy of piano. It takes place on the 88th day of the year, for number of keys on the piano.
– Dr. Derkson and the Derkson family