This is tricky. Short answer: We have a very loose routine. It is hard because my 6yo wants to go to bed early but my 4yo basically won't let him do that because they share a room. My 4yo is full of energy and wont go to bed until I have my DH home to help me.... which is around 7pm... and I find it hard to ask DH to launch straight into the night routine as soon as he walks in the door. So my boys eat dinner quite late, when DH gets home.... also because I like the idea of us all eating at the table at least once a day (otherwise DH would hardly see them!).
They have their baths before dinner (starting at about 6pm) so after dinner (at about 7.15pm) all they have to do is brush their teeth and go to bed... but in reality my 6yo wants to do his reader (homework) with Dad. We try to settle our 4yo at this time but he is like a jack-in-the-box. Sooo in reality they are both in bed by about 8pm. If I had two boys like my 6yo then it would be more straightforward... but my live wire 4yo really requires the extra help of my DH and frustratingly he doesn't get home until 7pm most nights. Tricky. Maybe things will improve with a tree change... here's hoping!
I'd aspire to your preferred routine... but at the end of the day it might be personalities and your DH's routine that makes or breaks it. Good luck!
ETA: this thread has got me thinking. I suspect that if I am honest with myself I probably allow the boys to stay up beyond 7pm so as to not only see their dad but so that that dad can see how challenging it is do do the evening routine. I do the morning routine by myself (including a school run) so DH can get out the door to work and I have my 4yo all day and I guess that if I also did the evening routine DH would almost be totally shielded from the hardest part of raising kids. Is it bad that I just don't want to be taken for granted? He looks after them for about half a day each weekend when i have my Me Time... but there should be more to father hood than that... I think. Not saying that anyone is wrong with what routine they choose though.
Last edited by Bathsheba; July 30th, 2010 at 02:12 PM.
I have a pretty strict routine at night...
4:30pm I am getting the kids dinner ready.
5pm the kids eat dinner..including DD now. I do the dishes while they eat. They are usually finished by 5:30pm, so they either play or watch the giggle and hoot night hour until it's time for a bath, they like the giggle and hoot goodnight song
6pm bath, all three of them in together, they are usually out by 6:15, so they go and play for a little while.
6:30pm DD goes to bed after a BF
6:45pm stories for DS2 then in bed by 7pm (he no longer has a sleep during the day)
7:00pm story or school book for DS1 and in bed by 7:30pm
We tend to have our dinner either when the kids are in bed or while they are playing after a bath. This is simply due to DH not being home until 7ish most nights. Usually by the time he gets home dinner has either been cooked through the day or everything is chopped and ready to go.
This routine still worked well when DD was a newborn, I think it helped her establish a good night routine as well. If it came to be that she needed feeding while still very little and the boys were having dinner, I would do it in the kitchen sitting on stool while they ate and chatted away to me about their day.
I also have a rule for me...I do not do any housework of any kind (including folding washing) after the kids are in bed. DH and either chat, have a glass of wine, watch TV together or I go to bed early and read a book. Or of course I play on BB
I start the evening routine around 4:30 when I start putting dinner on. It takes me a while some days due to feeding/watching DS so I like to start early. If I get a few minutes during the day I'll chop the veggies or whatever, just makes it easier in the mad rush of an evening. If I do a slow cooker dinner, I do it in the morning around 9am. DH gets home at 6pm and we all sit down to eat dinner then. That's me, DH and DS. DD has her dinner somewhere between 4 and 5pm.
After dinner, DH then gives both kids a bath at 6:30pm while I clean up after dinner, wash the dishes, etc. At 7pm we all sit on the couch while I feed DD. DH reads a book to DS while he has a cup of milk. At 7:30pm, it's bedtime. DH puts DS to bed and I put DD to bed (she feeds to sleep).
Currently I pretty well do the evening routine by myself because by the time I get home from work DH is "over" it (which I can fully understand!). DH will be home full time (studying by correspondence) so there will be no need to keep the boys up to spend time with a parent (as there is now). Keep it coming!!
dh leaves at about 4.45 so i start getting dinner ready, we eat around 530.. then have bath about 6-630 ish (my kids will play for ages in the bath) then jammies and books then DS waits in his room while i put DD down with a few songs.. then its DS 's turn. unually they are quiet in bed at 7
If you have trouble re-setting bed time you may have to get them up earlier in the morning or a few days. I am thinking of doing this because our night time routine is getting too late. Ideally I like the girls in bed by 7.30pm and lights out by 8pm, but lately it has been lights out at 8.30/9pm. I also have to be more strict with not pandering to every little request iykwim.
I try and cook dinner any time from lunch time to 3pm. Or I at least prep it.
In the late afternoon I take the girls outside to have a run around
We generally eat by 5.30pm
Bath around 6.00pm
Older girls are usually playing till 7.15ish. Whilst I clean up dinner
Then I do story time, tuck in, sing songs etc. I usually have a lights out rule by 8pm (this is when i start to get all the requests)
By this time I am ready to get Eva down and some times she will not go down till 9pm or later!!
Hi Chica,
I'm a bit of a routine nazi.
I usually put Jordy down for a nap around 10:00, but if he's still singing and cooing by 11:00 I get him up, give him lunch and he's back down by 12:00. Depending what time he wakes from that he's usually down again by 2:00 (he sleeps around 3hours per day, sometimes broken up sometimes all in one hit), and he never sleeps past 4:00
I cook dinner from 4:00 ish, we eat at 5:00, if they had baths at night I would probably give them that at 6:00 (they currently have showers with us in the mornings), bottle at 6:30, teeth and story by 7:00 and lights out by 7:15 at the latest.
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