Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Routines, routines...

Do you or your family have routines?  Ours does.  Many of them in fact.  Some were established out of necessity, while others just "happen" over time.  I thought a good way to start off the new year was to make a list of some of the routines we have around our house.  You can decide for yourself which ones are silly, necessary, etc.  Enjoy the list!

  • We get up every day (weekends included) at 7AM. 

  • The kids clothes are laid out each night.

  • I put cereal bowls, plates or pans out for whatever type of breakfast we are having the night before.  Silverware included.

  • CS watches Dora every day.  She adores that show and I get to make phone calls and appointments during that 20 minutes.

  • Lunch is at noon every day.  The kids eat at the table while I clean up the kitchen.

  • Nap/Rest/Quiet time begins at 1PM daily.  Without this, I might lose my mind ;-)

  • Dinner is at 6ish.  We sit down at the table as a family and talk about our days events.

  • Chuck takes a nap each night at 7 (this is a huge joke!  He goes to watch TV in another room and always dozes for a while!)

  • Kids baths and bedtime happen around 8. 


Now, why am I really sharing this?  Well, the past couple of weeks, our schedule/routines have been really off.  Oh, this happens during the holidays each year, but for some reason this year has been especially tough.  I think the older the kids get, the more important our family routine becomes.  Deviating, even for a couple of days, makes them unhappy.  Sleep loss, naps lost, and eating food they normally don't eat is not an ideal situation for us. 

This brings me to last night.  CS climbed up on my lap after dinner and snuggled close.  She has been hit especially hard with our routine upset.  She has been crying a lot, whining a lot and just generally unhappy the last several days.  Anyway, last night while snuggling I ask her what was wrong.  In her little voice she looked at me and ask "When are tings getting back to nomal Mommee?"  That broke my heart and made me chuckle all at the same time.  I told her things would be back to normal by Wednesday (which is when everyone returns to school/work).  She seemed satisfied by this answer and keeps asking if it's Wednesday yet.  ha!

I'm wondering if your schedule got really messed up this holiday season?  Do you look forward to "returning to normal" too?

2 comments:

  1. I completely agree with you! Our schedule went out the door at the beginning of December and I couldn't wait to get it back this week. The kids need that security of knowing things will be the same day in and day out. It got to the point last week, while we were in Florida, that they just gave up on eating. They didn't want to eat because we have been eating out so much, and I don't blame them I didn't either, so many nights they didn't ask for any dinner or snacks and just went to bed. It was crazy!

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  2. [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by andrea mann. andrea mann said: RT @shevigirl: Do you thrive on routines? Did your get messed up during the holidays? http://bit.ly/eqWl2E [...]

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