Now that my house is more or less organized and put together (I’ll post about that tomorrow), I really want to work on a daily schedule that works for my family. We have a bit of a routine already (I know, for example, that the baby will sleep at 10am), but there are huge chunks of my day that are unaccounted for, lost in a million requests to play or make X snack or engage in Y game or do Z activity. When I’m not playing with my kids or taking them out to socialize, I am trying desperately to decompress by doing absolutely nothing (which stresses me out because the house falls apart around me), or I am spending way more hours than I’d like trying to clean up the mess my family has made (which stresses me out because I have no time to decompress).
I’d like to schedule specific times for exercise, one-on-one play, independent play, outings, crafts, educational play (learning to read, sign, etc.), quiet time, snacks and meals, toy clean-up, and chores. And, most importantly, I’d like to schedule a little “me time” somewhere in between so I get a break without the kids at my feet, demanding more stuff from me. Hell, at this point, I’d settle for the luxury of taking a dump by myself.
I think if we have more of a rhythm to our day, I could manage my kids’ expectations more effectively, like, did you know I’m not your slave? and contrary to popular belief, Mommy can’t play with you every second of every day. They would know when it’s time for some one-on-one with me, and when they need to do an independent activity.
I have an idea of what our schedule should look like (in fact, I’ve hand written it and posted it to my fridge), but it’s hard because every day is a little different. We have a lot of appointments (I’m seeing a chiropractor who is taking up quite a bit of my time lately), play dates, and social engagements throughout the week that keep us busy and make it impossible to keep the same schedule every single day.
My goal is to create our routine on a day-by-day basis. Every night I will create an hour-by-hour schedule for the following day. And then, god help me, I’m going to try to stick to it.
Morag and Me 