Routine – Part 1, The Kiddos

My main strategy for parenting my daughter and caring for my nieces during the week is with a routine. They are three different girls, a Drama Queen(age 3), a Tazmanian … umm … Angel (almost 2), and a Princess(2-1/2); 3 wildly different personalities, and I still find that they each respond fairly well to the same predictable schedule. We maintain a relatively rigid outline for the day and fill in the blanks with flexibility and cretivity so we aren’t stuck in monotony. Generally, they eat and take their naps with relative ease because they know what’s coming next.  

Here’s what our weekdays look like:

7:00 Princess awakes and has breakfast while Mommy finishes getting ready and also eats breakfast

7:45 Drama Queen and Tazmanian Angel arrive and immediately sit down to have breakfast 

8:00-11:00 This time slot includes a fun activity (going to the library, playing outside, etc.), learning time, snack time and independent play. The order of those acitivities depends largely on their moods and level of cooperation.

11:15-11:30 Lunch

11:30-12:30 Quiet play, settling down

12:30-2:30 (if I’m lucky) All 3 girls nap. This is a must. I don’t allow them to stagger their naps if I can help it at all. I need this time.

2:30-4:00/5:30 Girls awake at various times and have snack. Creative art activity if there’s time.

4:00/5:30 Queen and Angel go home.

6:00-7:00 Princess, Hubby and myself have dinner, clean up, etc.

7:00 Princess has bath time then play with mom and dad

8:00 Bed time

The rigid things are eating times and sleep times. If you would like to see some whiny kids that can’t pinpoint why they’re out of control then stop by my house at 11:45 on a day when I’m running late with lunch.

The flexible things are everything inbetween. If I have a sick kid (or just a bunch of grouhcy ones) then it might be a good day to put in a movie (no, I’m not against television used purposefully). If they are all having cabin fever then we all go out in the snow. Every Tuesday we go to the library and other days we go to a play group in the morning. The same house with the same toys (they’ll get bored of the Christmas ones before you know it) gets pretty old for 3 little girls so it’s important that there are little things here and there to change things up.

The schedule helps me too. I know what’s next, what to expect and I have a general order in which I do things. Most parts of the schedule and the “rules” flow easliy for the girls because they are familiar with them and they are always the same. I find a certain comfort in this. If you think this schedule sounds boring you’re invited to stop by anytime so I may change your mind. It just isn’t so.

I’ve had some things change in the last few weeks that have displaced some of my usual activities and it has called for a change in routine for me. It got me thinking. In a way, I make my own personal schedule much like I make the schedule for the girls; with a basic, rigid outline that I flexibly fill in. More on that tomorrow Go here for part 2.

 photo credit: Adam (adamjinj)

Why I do what I do ~ This morning, New Years Day, promptly at 7:15 a.m. my Princess was calling to me in the monitor, “Mommy! Mommy I’m done! Mommy! …” over and over waiting for me to come in and get her (we close her door at night). Of course I was tired from staying up late. My husband jumped out of bed to get her and told me I could go back to sleep. I literally never sleep in and I know why, this could get addicting.

If you enjoyed this post you may want to subscribe to free updates by RSS feed or Email.

Tagged as: Family Life, Managing Time, Parenting