rhythm and routine

[sunnylady303]

I have two little ones - 6 and (almost) 4 who really thrive on routine. I need some of it too in terms of dealing with house stuff and focused time with them, not just around them, IYKWIM.

On good days, maybe half the time, we have a great bed time routine that works well. Dinner, cleaning time, bath time (while I clean the kitchen), snack, teeth brushing, reading, story telling, back scratching, sleep. We all look forward to this time when we know what to expect and it works well. But we often don't get to it.

I feel like we need a morning routine or something because our days just sort of meander to a start every day and then suddenly it's 10:00 and no one has eaten breakfast or is dressed. It makes the day unproductive feeling. And some kind of rhythm to our week.

What do others do? And do you have any suggestions for us?

[destinybound]

One thing I have learned with bed time is you really have to be consistent with the time from dinner on. Every night we eat by six at the latest, then bed time routine. I don't bathe the kids every night and sometimes we do it before dinner, it is so nice to do it this way.

As far as am, sometimes, when the kids are playing well, it is nice to let them play while I get things done. But on most days, we have breakfast, clean, brush teeth and get dressed. then if they want to play or we have no where to go, we still are ready for the day.

The biggest helper is when I get up early and get ready myself...I am always in such a better mood.

HTH!

[MrsH]

I agree w/ PP about the evening routine.

In the morning, we usually need to get the eldest ready for school so that helps to get something going. Even when we don't though, we still start our morning routine at latest an hour after the kids wake up. We actually have the whole routine written out (with pictures for the preschooler) and posted in the upstairs hallway: get up, eat breakfast, brush teeth, get dressed, pick up room, shoes and coats on, head out the door with smiles. The older one has a few additional steps about getting her things together, doing hair, etc. Other than reminders to stay on task, they both can move through these steps fairly independently now.

On days that there's no school, we also have a midday routine that involves lunch, a story, and then rest hour/nap. For me, it's great to know that we'll have that time for grown-up stuff, to cuddle with the baby, or to relax. It took a while to instate this with the preschooler (the older one could be talked through it easily), we basically just started off very short. He now usually behaves himself in his room, though we do have a video monitor which helps us keep his sister's stuff safe.

hope that helps!