Sunday, January 25, 2009
To All The Moms...
I have a quick question for all you moms out there, do you stick to a daily schedule with your children? If so, what is it? I'm not sure why I care, but I was just curious. Kate and I have a pretty loose schedule these days, I mean we have our daily routine but I'm not strict about sticking to it exactly everyday. Let me know what you guys think and what works for you.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
OKay, so I don't have a meticulous schedule as I did when Aiden was younger but I do have one. When Aiden was Kate's age I lived by my schedule because it gave me some sense of control because he wasn't a calm and complacent child. He always knew snack time what at 10 and lunch at 12 and nap time after curious george at 12:30. After he woke up we played and had snack at 3 and then dinner at 5 or so. Bed time was very routine. I think that I may have said too much but I too am interested about what other moms think. Aiden has less trouble dealing with the inevitable (ie. naps and meal-times) when it predictable. Bytheway, you look fantastic Amanda. Kate is a darling girl. It would be fun to see you guys again. I am trying to see if Aiden and I can come out in June to Utah. If I do I will give you a call. Now I have written too much. Sorry! :)
We really don't have a schedule, per say - we do keep a sort of routine... getting up, kids watch cartoons, TV off at 10:00 and we then get ready for the day; They know they can have lunch anytime after noon; and there's no snacks after 4:00 because dinner is at 6:00 (I plan dinner then so Rhett knows so he can be home accordingly); boys always go to bed at 8:30, 9:00 on weekends. But as far as naps and that, it just depends on what's going on for the day. Andrew always has a nap, but when is determined by what we are doing.
I think a child's schedule needs need to be determined by the child. Some thrive on knowing when and where everything can be expected or they fall apart. Others are more flexible and are o.k. when they get lunch, a nap, etc. when it comes. I think meals need to be on a particular schedule as to help the child know when food is to be expected so they don't graze all day; for naps, if the child can sleep in the car during errands then fine; if not, then particular care needs to be planned so the child can be home at naptime.
Anyways, that was a book... I got a bit carried away - sorry.
Henry has a "morning" nap and then my two kids have an "afternoon" nap.
The nap time changes depending on what time we went to bed, made it home from Church, woke up, etc.
Some days Eliza needs to be down sooner than usual... other days she's up a little longer because we were out doing an activity.
She lets me know when she's hungry in the morning. Otherwise, she might not eat when I prepare her something. I do try and space out afternoon snack so we can have dinner as a family.
I usually need a midi-day break, so I'm pretty good to get Eliza down. Henry might go down for his second nap at the same time or an hour into her nap. It depends. I'm not strict about the time, but I make sure it happens. If that makes sense.
I try and keep the eating and sleeping routine the same... We make and eat breakfast together in the morning, the girls eat lunch at the same time, we eat dinner with Eric at about 6:00. Vanessa takes her first nap at 10:00 and then (if I'm lucky) the girls take their afternoon nap together at about 2:00. As for what we do in between just depends on the day. If we just stay home, then we play in the house and go for walks outside.
I do declare a "reading time" during the day where we all sit and read. I read some books to Savvy and then she has to read some by herself too... it's my way of teaching her to do things on her own and focus on one task (she's quite scatterbrained). It usually lasts at least 30 minutes... most of the time Savvy will sit and read for longer than that.
If we run errands, I usually try and do it after Vanessa's nap just so that everyone is happy while we're out.
Every time I have tried to start a regular, strict routine, it falls apart about 2 days in. Some outing or responsibility always gets in the way and then it's too much work to try and pull things together again (just to have them messed up again).
Schedule? What's that?
Post a Comment