There are sleep schedules and nap schedules. There are school schedules and sports schedules. There is the nursing schedule. There’s the camp schedule.
Sometimes it seems that being a parent is really being a calendar keeper. Kids need routine. Kids need consistency. If you miss a window, there could be hell to pay. So we put them on the schedule and we try to stay on it.
But it’s an interesting question, who is really putting who on a schedule. Before we had kids, we used to wing things. We’d go to bed whenever. We’d get up whenever. We’d work out if we felt like it. We’d let our inbox determine our to-do list. There was a freedom in this spontaneity, but there was also an irresponsibility. It is the easiest, but by no means the best way to do things.
And now? Now things are different. Our kids have put us on a schedule. They’ve put us on their schedule, to be sure. They’ve forced us to be more aware, more consistent, more dependable, more efficient, than we otherwise would have been. So yeah, we keep them on a schedule, but in a sense, the schedule keeps us, too.
