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One of the blogs I follow is the Multiples and More blog and each week they have a question of the week. I thought it would be fun to participate! This weeks question is: How closely do you follow a schedule for your kids?

I have never been a Big Supporter of schedules except nap and bedtime, mostly for my sanity. However, as I mentioned in a recent post regarding sleep I am a big supporter of routines. I find that routines are predictable and decrease everyone’s anxiety about what to expect. In fact it is becoming more and more clear to me that by fostering routines and not schedules it is teaching my kids to be more flexible in life. However they are very committed to the Routine. For example, we went to tumbling class this morning and the teacher always puts stamps on the kids hands at the end of the class. Well this week she wanted them to take turns getting the stamp instead of just circling around her. That put one of my boys right over the edge, he couldn’t understand why he couldn’t just walk up and get his stamp. It took a timeout and about 10 minutes of calming down then we had to go back after all the kids were gone and ask for a stamp. So they count on their routines and from what I can see it is comforting to them.

I don’t claim to have all the answers and frequently what is included in our daily routines change but I try and prepare them for change. If I can’t I know that my job is to support them through it and allow the experience to be a life lesson that we can’t plan everything and that being a willow in a storm is much less painful then being an oak…..