We have started 2014 off with the first serious attempt at getting a routine in our house. Papa gets up at 6am so he can drink tea and study (or go teach his M-W 7:30am class which starts next week). Mama and boys get up around 8am, and if Papa is still home, he has breakfast ready around 8:15-8:30am. Dinner is around 6pm, (it had been slipping later and later since Baby G. came), and we start bedtime around 8:30pm (which means lights-out closer to 9:15pm, as we do our family worship at night). This means everybody is rested adequately (except poor Mama who is up feeding Baby G. a couple times per night - but this, too, shall pass).
This is a sea change in our house. I've never been good at routines, so we are very curious to see how this one plays out. However, it was adopted for a few good reasons (and not the bad one that wants us to feel in control of every minute - we've learned (and will learn) how laughable that idea is).
1) We were feeling stretched but not really doing that much (though with a newborn, which does count) - this is a cue for organization
2) Eating late was not healthy, and made it hard to get to sleep at a reasonable hour (which cascades to the next day, etc.)
3) Our older son is like a combination of me and one of Mama's brothers - he's particular, likes predictability, and gets upset when reality does not match the vision in his head. So we want to cultivate a vision of a "normal" day and then meet it pretty regularly. Christmas nearly ruined him - our schedule was whacked out beyond recognition, between visits to family, illness, church services on TUESDAY!
So we began our experiment on Monday, and so far, so good. We almost got in trouble Monday night, when we tried to do both laundry (coin op, requires some planning and effort) and Costco. We got to bed half an hour later than we wanted to, but seemed to recover yesterday, and agreed that we should only do one thing after dinner. Yesterday that was a trip to Home Depot for more renovation supplies, today that's Papa off on diaconal work.
As a rather damning side note, Tater gleefully declared "Costco says 'cost-cost-cost'". How true...
Good for you !
ReplyDeleteI always used to put my children to bed at 7h30 when very small. Then took care of the eldest ones : bed at 8, lights out at 8h30. We fellt we needed time to talk and share as a couple. When there was a feed it was done around 10h30 or 11 and off to bed.
I can tell you it was very hard on us when they grew ! ;) because we still needed this time for the two of us... and we ended in bed much too late ! :)
It's a good idea to get used to a shedule before Anastasia comes to live with you !