Going Back to my Teaching Days... Part 3 - Get Scheduled!

I would like to start this post by telling you how I envisioned stay at home parenting to be.

Being the naive new mom that I was, I totally pictured coloring and picnics and cuddling on the couch to Disney movies mixed in with time where my children played imaginatively with blocks or trains or empty boxes by themselves so I could do things like make meals and keep the house spotless. After scrubbing the toilet with my hair perfectly blow-dried I would take off my yellow gloves and say something like, "Children, how would you like to go out for ice cream?" and they'd scurry to gather their shoes (they wouldn't' need coats because the sun was perpetually shining - a nice balmy 85 degrees) and we'd load into my (spotless) minivan and drive off for an ice cream adventure. The kids would be in heaven and when we ate our cones not a drop would spill onto their adorable Baby Gap clothes.

Yeah. So, naturally a schedule didn't really fit into this scenario because, in my perfect world we'd be too busy creating childhood memories to bog ourselves down with such things as schedules.

Enter the real world. This house needs a schedule. I don't know why I'm so hesitant of it (still, even) but I'm not a fan. Nonetheless it's something we need and I'm almost certain it will work if I can ever get around to actually following it.

You see, I have two things that get in my way of following the schedule. One is Max and the other is Ben.

Between trips to the toilet, diaper changes, meal making, TRYING to maintain SOME sort of order (and failing), getting everyone dressed and ready (not even including myself), naps (and implementing cry it out for naps), and snacks I cannot seem to find time to fit in ANYTHING else on the schedule. I feel like I never play with my kids! To my defense, we do go to a ton of play dates. But, let's be real, at a play date I want my kid to play with other kids so I can try to recoup a modicum of sanity by commiserating with other moms. So... I wouldn't say that counts as playing with my kids exactly. But, it is technically play time for them.

Anyway, the point is, we're working on it. I would love to read to the kids daily (in addition to their bedtime where we always read) and do some sort of organized play where I can interact with them daily, too. I'm learning that something's gotta give. Cleaning will have to get done after bedtime, but then when do I watch TV?

So there you have it. The schedule has been a big fat fail thus far, but I will continue to work on it because I do believe that if I could master it our life would be much smoother.

Or is that just me being naive again?



So, there you have it. Our proposed schedule. I used one from Lakeshore and just call things by weird classroom names even though it's not really what we do. For example, centers is just Max getting to choose a tub of blocks or music or cars, etc and playing BY HIMSELF (this never happens) so I can get myself ready. Group activities is supposed to be a project or play time with me. Usually it's around this time that we end up leaving for a play date or something and that time gets skipped. I can change up the schedule for after naps to include project time or reading time if we missed it, but honestly I have yet to change the schedule. It looks all bent and used because kids have been ripping off the velcroed activities, not because I've actually been using this board. *sigh* Like I said, I'm working on it.