Back to Basics. The Comfort of Routine.

Routines are glorious. Where do I even start!?  If you were to have a hidden camera into a well organised household and watch everyone get ready for their day it would be most interesting.  Each person has a routine and together all these routines see them out the door with breakfast in their bellies, everything they need for the day with them and they know where they are going and what they are doing!   Like a well oiled machine ...

Of course some days there is a spanner in the works but overall the routine is the key to success.  And interestingly people thrive on it,  especially children.  Even pets. Sparkie already had her routines and she is looking at me like "Are you crazy?" if I fall short.  👀

Routines take effort to establish but each thing that is part of your routine is something that you will eventually do automatically and dont have to think about.  This is a relief.  We don't have to decide to do our teeth every morning we just do them.  Loads of decisions were pre made and we can carry these tasks out without thinking.  In fact we are probably thinking about other things entirely while we do them with that freed up mental space. 

When the wheels fall off in some kind of crisis... then it might be our routines that keep the household running and the basics in place.  A saving grace.

When we are in a crisis or overwhelmed I always mention Elizabeth Elliots "Do the next thing."  The more things we can just do because they are automatic the better.  

I remember when the kids were small... the hours between 4 and bedtime were intense!  It was an absolute fete to have tired children bathed, fed and in bed peacefully by a good time (7.30 was the magic number mostly) and it is the time your baby is always unsettled and you are trying to manage making dinner and juggle two hundred different things at the same time.  I developed a routine in each stage.  Starting dinner in the morning was one thing that helped.  Early baths also helped when there was a baby included.   But the routine of the day and evening help kids too.  A sweet little bed time routine helps them settle down.  Actually as an adult a sweet little bed time routine helps me also!  

Having lived through a crisis or two, with children,  I discovered that keeping things as normal as possible helped reassure them and myself.  We can not control everything but what we can control... truly keep things as normal and happy as possible.  Now our Grandparents and parents no doubt were so good at this that we lived through many a crisis we didn't even know about thanks to them. 😊  Their routines made us feel we could really on them and basically EVERYTHING about their house was comforting. 

In normal day to day times I am a person who easily falls into stress/anxiety.  So I just "drop life" better the things are under control, running smoothly as little last minute panic as possible!

When worried I keep to the routine and add cooking and cleaning.  I keep extra busy.  If I feel I am doing something that is helping or productive I do better (and the family does better) if I am providing meals or doing something!  By making a meal I might be helping someone else maintain their normal!

A couple of weeks ago there were several very intense days in the world news.  I noticed everyone was on edge.   It gave me a reminder that when we are prepared we are glad we did it!  That even so I was reviewing things.  And that we absolutely must keep the ball rolling, keep the home fires burning and everything running as normally as possible.  That is a great comfort.  These efforts will hugely impact your family,  that they can come home to a happy home and everything feels homely and warm.  Their little world is intact. 

Whatever you can do ahead of time to make keeping meals on the table, the washing done... whatever it is... these are investments in success on hard days.  Everyone has them!  It might be that you are just too sick or too tired... but if you are prepared you can still feed everyone and they are none the wiser!  I have a thing about staying on top of the laundry.  It is never a big deal and I never have washing to fold or iron.  If something went wrong I would be ok for a fair while.

Routine helps us have order instead of chaos.  It truly is a comfort and going about things automatically we can pray,  listen to music... work happily and see the fruit of our work.   We can also dodge chaos ie we learned to lay out our clothes for the next day every evening.  Mum would set the table ahead of time.  Lots of things can be built into the routine to make all aspects of life easier.   Maybe its menu planning on the weekend.  Checking your diary so no birthdays or events sneak up on you...   

Routines give uncertain times some normalcy.  They improve your life and cost nothing!  When they become good habits they might last a life time!  For most of us and especially children chaos is really very stressful.  We can't avoid it all be we can avoid some of it.

Largely we get to choose if our home is peaceful and cozy in a crazy world and the comforts of home will be something that children remember in sixty years time.  Hopefully they will pass this along into their own families.

Some times and some days are just hard.  I felt out of sorts from bad dreams this morning.  It slowed me down to a snails pace.  Great for a Monday! 🙄 But tonight I have clean sheets, washing put away, a yummy dinner and really things are all ok... thanks to my routine.  This is a great comfort.  My Nana and Mum would be pleased I caught on to their methods!xxx