Now we all have routine drummed into us while we are pregnant, get your child into a routine, regular feeding, sleeping, play times etc.  But how hard is it to do?  I have had countless people judge and criticise me because i will not go to an evening meeting and drag her along with me because it is 'after her bedtime and so not in her routine.  They say, so what?  Forget it for one night,yes, and what about the next night and the next???

In our home E has actually set her own routines since the day she was born, and I have followed and enforced them.  As she has grown up she has needed different amounts of daytime sleep,sometimes a morning nap suited better than an afternoon one, other times none was needed at all, depends as much on if she is in a growth spurt or if we are active or not.  Many things have affected her routine in the past.  Letting her make it has been great.  It really came home to me this weekend while we were with my family how much of a routine we have, and how solid it is.

Her current routine (when we are home) is:

• 5-6am.  Get up and give mummy kisses and cuddles.  Go into the lounge to turn on the telly and play a while. 
• 6-7am.  Rouse mummy enough for brekky,and then after brekky get dressed.
• 7-9am.  Get ready for pre-school,make bed, bath/hairwash if needed (mummy is needed for this bit) and style hair for today
• 9-12noon.  Preschool/gymnastics
• 12-1pm.  Lunch and restful play/reading
• 1-4pm.  Go out if mummy well enough, craft time, 'schooltime', and play or DVD
• 4-6pm. Teatime, helping in the kitchen, get into PJ's, last of the toys away, watch 'bedtime telly'
• 7pm.  clothes out for tomorrow, read bedtime story, pink milk, brush teeth, go to toilet and bed.
• 7:15pm snoring and sound asleep.

I keep to this routine, it is relaxed, but if I dont send her to bed at 7pm and do the things that she likes to do as mentioned above she will be sound off on the sofa or even the floor by 7:30-45pm anyhow.   recently she has taken to making herself a 'nest' to curl up in, it is so cute!  And I will just transfer her to bed up to half an hour later, or as soon as i realise and it is incredible.  I have tried to keep her up as a treat on a saturday evening to watch some program together or a movie we both enjoy - no go.  Bedtime is just part of her inner workings.

I especially keep to this routine when we are visiting friends and family.  It is slightly more structured because we are away and people never eat at 5pm like we do, so it is more of a rush and I am clock watching like crazy, but if she stays up late because she is excited she also gets too hyper and into that stage that leads to it all ending in tears.  Thankfully we only stay with people who ignore this and we can just carry on.  They know that it is not bad behaviour, just the change of scenery and that tomorrow night, should we be staying more than one night she will be sorted.  Also when we have people to stay she is good about bedtime, and in the mornings instead of coming in to turn on the telly she will find one toy to play with, and play on her bed or sometimes on mine until it is time for breakfast.

Peace
EF.x