Is our schedule our downfall?

January 9, 2012

I’m a routine kinda girl. I like a schedule. Even if life doesn’t encourage a particular schedule I find myself naturally falling into one. That aspect of my personality, coupled with an inability to properly sit still, makes for a very active life.

Everything I’ve always read has said that kids thrive in a structured routine life. And definitely having kids, by nature, has thrown off some of the schedule. Things come up, things shift, kids change and a certain schedule can’t necessarily be stuck to. During the school year though, we seem to get into a rhythm.

Drew has school Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I set up classes for Tuesday and Thursday. We essentially are busy Monday through Friday. It works. It works because I have this crazy feeling when we are home kids get into trouble, start meddling in things they shouldn’t, test their boundaries more than normal, etc etc. Or at least my kids do that.

I have an ongoing conversation with one of my closest friends about the downfall being that we are too structured. Her family spends a lot of downtime at home and therefore her kids can independently play and she isn’t constantly running herself all over the earth.

I, on the other hand, have always felt that nothing good comes out of us being home for very long. See the aforementioned paragraph about our schedule. Drew’s school has a strict routine, his days off have a strict routine and every time we seem to derail from that…TROUBLE. So here goes the question, what came first the chicken or the hen?

Have I set my kids up for disaster when non-structured free play starts? Can I not comfortably hang at home because I have been so focused on changing our locale, switching up activities, and keeping us on such a fast pace? Where does one get a child that comfortably plays in the corner with their cars for hours on end? Rather, I run a system of activity changes every ten minutes. Therefore, not allowing me twenty minutes to prepare dinner. How do I wind them up and let them go without the destruction of themselves, the house or my prized possessions?

One thought on “Is our schedule our downfall?

  1. Schedules enable us to feel more secure. The questions are:
    Is the schedule flexible?
    Are you over-scheduled?
    Are you leaving time and opportunity for creative thinking and creative playtime?
    If the schedule is causing stress, then it is not working. Change it.
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