Some parents could care less about routine.
Some care too much.
I’m somewhere in the middle. The Boy sort of established his own routine around 6 months and I’ve just gone with it. It’s loose- I know he’ll nap around 10am and then again at 2pm and that he’ll be ready for bed around 7ish- but it works really well for us. I try my best to ensure that he is home around his nap times so that he can sleep properly (this took my months to figure out but he is just not a good “on the go” sleeper).
We also have a standard bedtime routine. Bath, books, music (recently it’s been an awesome Raffi DVD, straight from the 80s), bottle, sleep. This is where routine bit us in the butt.
Last week, we were having my brother-in-law and his wife over for dinner. The Boy had been splashing around in his kiddie pool. It was about 4:30, they were due over in half an hour, and I decided to give him his bath early.
Thought process= early bath, dinner with our family, hang out time with his Uncle and Aunt, bed. Easy-peasy!
Problem= The Boy thought it was bed time and threw the tantrum to end all tantrums.
I’m talking unbelievably loud screams that would not be consoled, running nose, red face, flailing arms, kicking legs. I’ve never seen him that distraught.
It wasn’t until I wrestled him into normal clothing and brought him downstairs to hang out with his dad in the backyard while he was grilling that The Boy clued into the fact this was not, in fact, bedtime. And my normal, happy boy returned.
Lesson learned. The routine wins. Got it.
We have gone through the same thing many times! We are a very routine family, especially when the kids were younger. Now that the girls are a bit older they are more flexible but our little boy (3 Yrs), he is still pretty stuck on that routine, mess with his bathtime and it is not pretty!!
It looks like “The Boy” has it all figured out….no more throwing him curves…lol
Both my fiancée and I admittedly thrive on routine…as does our 7 year old son….my 3 year old daughter could not care less. My son however…if you throw off his routine look out!!
What I have found works wonders with him is simply prepping him before hand…if it is something that we can do so with. Sometimes if it is a big change I have to prep him a few days before.
However I can appreciate his need for this. I hate it when monkey wrenches get thrown into my day…
LOL! Too funny! I had the same thing with my daughter a while back, minus the tantrum. We wanted to bathe her early so we wouldn’t have to take time away from our guests after supper. We did the bath routine at 4:30 pm and put her in her shorts and Tshirt (this is what she wears to bed in the summer), then she skipped downstairs, asked for her cheerios and water (bedtime snack) and proceeded to turn on the TV to watch In the Night Garden, her bedtime TV show. She was completely confused when it wasn’t on and even more confused when we called her to the table for her dinner! It was rather hilarious to watch! 🙂