Schedules, routines and things…
The other day I shared on IG how schedules and routines help me and my kids survive the day even when I’m dragging. I honestly thought the need for routines and schedules crept into my life once I became a mom, but the truth is I have always operated with a high degree of structure - it just became that much more necessary once we had our son, and an absolute non-negotiable once the twins arrived.
My dad is a retired Marine, and my mom is very type A - much more so than I am lol - so growing up I was always operating with schedules and routines in place. According to my dad, if you were 10 minutes early you were on time, if you were on time, you were late. Eggghh… I can’t necessarily say that I always abide by the “10 minutes early” rule (because ummm, you need to know your audience), but I will say I have found so much value in having at least one of the two in place (a schedule OR routine).
When I speak of schedules, I'm talking scheduling your day out by designated times, or time blocks. Routines on the other hand are more or less the things you repeat regularly - habitually if you will. In our house, we have schedules and routines. We always have. The reason we have been able to keep them is because they are fluid, and flexible when they need to be.
My husband used to be highly resistant to anything that even resembled a planned out day *insert eye roll*… but over time he learned how we actually gained a lot of freedom by integrating them. As contradictory as it might sound, freedom is actually one of the main reasons I appreciate having routines and schedules in place. We have blocks of time every single day that we know we can do anything we want with. Catch up on work, laundry, exercise, cooking, Netflix. Whatever the hell we want. We are intentional with that time (my “word” for the year…lol), and I look forward to it EVERY SINGLE DAY. Honestly the thought of not having those time blocks gives me a little anxiety. All three of our children seem to appreciate having routines in place - even the twins will say “night night” when we head upstairs with bottles to start our night time routine. Lol.
In a world where we find ourselves juggling school, work, and day-to-day home life with three kids it feels impossible not to have a schedule or routines in place - and I would HIGHLY recommend giving them a try if you haven’t. If it feels a little intimidating, start with one at a time. Maybe a morning routine, then a night time routine… then move on to sticking some times (or time blocks) in with them. And remember to be flexible when you need to be. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times our routines and schedules have changed over the past year alone thanks to the pandemic… but even still I know our sanity depends on them. Lol!
Let me know below if you are into schedules and routines, and why or why not?