Time to be a little honest here. In this space I like to write about our learning adventures at home, the fun times, and the joyous moments with my little ones. But, truth be told, things aren’t always peachy.
In fact, for awhile last year, things were flat out terrible. My busy boys were simply TOO busy. They were constantly into mischief, hurting each other, or generally driving me crazy. I love being home with them, except … well, actually – I didn’t.
I was so frustrated and upset by this. When I had my daughter, I was not in a place in my life where I could choose to stay home with her. Sending her to daycare was so very hard on me. I knew I did not want to have more children until I was in a position of having the option to stay home. So, I waited 8 years before having my boys.
The plan to stay home with them for awhile was exactly that … THE PLAN. What was I to do when I found it was not at all what I expected. It was hard. And had gotten to the point of being miserable.
The thought of returning to work and putting the boys in daycare/school did cross my mind, many times (sometimes many times in the same day … or hour). But I knew I had to give it a better shot.
I did some reading, research, and a whole lot of changing to be in the position I am now. Both boys are still home, still busy, but I am LOVING it. I know this is where I am suppose to be. There is no question. I go to bed at night tired, but fully happy, knowing I am doing exactly what I had wanted to do, and finding pure joy in it.
So what changed?
Well, my attitude for one. I realized this was not going to just be a simple thing. I could not simply wake up and enjoy a day at home with my kids, at least not without a plan.
As a teacher, I know how important a routine is to children, but the idea of rhythm was very new to me.
We have put a lovely rhythm into our days, weeks, months, and even year. It has created peace with my children and myself.
The idea of a rhythm, is very simple. Following nature is a natural thing for humans to do. The rhythm of a day is set out for us with the rising and setting of the sun, the seasons change gradually providing us with a larger rhythm for the year.
The aspect that completely changed my enjoyment at home with my children was the rhythm found within a day. A focus on the rhythm of active/quiet time and social/personal time.
It makes so much sense when you stop to think about it. I just hadn’t taken the time to stop and think about it … because I didn’t have the time before we started this rhythm!
My boys are very busy (I know I keep saying that, but I think it is very important to know that this idea works for all children). What would generally happen last year, before I knew better, was this: I would seek to tire them out. We would do a busy activity, they would get wound up, so I would move to a busier activity thinking they needed to blow off steam, they still wouldn’t be tired so we would do another busy activity, and so on. The odd thing was, the more busy activities I stacked on top of one another, the busier they seemed to get.
Well, low and behold, that was exactly what was happening. Until discovering the importance of Quiet Time.
We have quiet times alternating with busier times, together times alternating with alone times. This gives me time in the day on my own, which I was desperately needing.
While the idea of rhythm and routine is certainly not novel, it was something that I had completely over looked. And certainly undervalued in importance.
You have likely noticed me writing about quiet activities lately, like with all of these quiet bin activities. It has truly been a life altering idea for me. We have this lovely rhythm to our day now, which includes outings, activities, loads of free play, quiet time, meal times, family time, one-on-one times … everything we need and want to do, just structured in a rhythmical way.
A little bit of planning can go a very long way with children.
Interested in learning more about the importance of Quiet Time for both you and your little one? Join How Wee Learns Quiet Time Club!
Join the Quiet Time Club
When we have time on our own to rest and fill our own cup, we can recharge for an afternoon full of connection, fun, and patience!
Join the Quiet Time Club here: https://shop.howweelearn.com/products/the-quiet-time-club-preschool-edition
Thank you so much for reading friends. Hope you are having a lovely week!
Sarah
Xo
wow I love this child centered approach!! Thanks for sharing!!
Very glad you like it as much as I do Amy! Thank you for taking the time to comment!
My kids have SO much energy. My oldest son was very calm and did not get into anything, but since his brother was born it’s been chaos nonstop. They have so much more energy than other kids their ages and some days I lose it. I try to have a loose schedule most days, and I do alternate quiet and busy usually, but I really think I need to take a look at what I’m doing and set a better routine to our rhythm. Thanks for the tips!
I can totally and complete relate Alyssa. It certainly gets easier as they get older, but I would strongly suggest checking out Oak Meadow. Implementing a strong rhythm made such a huge difference for my family. So glad you found the tips helpful, hang in there Mama!!!
I loved reading this! It makes so much sense to follow the natural cycle of the day.
Thanks for reading Melissa, glad you liked it! And it really does make a lot of sense.
Hi thank you for this post. It came at just the right time for me. I was curious what a sample of your daily rhythm looks like if you could share that? I clicked on the oak meadow curriculum link but I didn’t provide a breakdown of what the daily flow is like.
Hi Gina, absolutely! Here is a blog post about our rhythm: https://www.howweelearn.com/preschool-at-home/