My four year old is such a creature of habit. When the schedule gets changed on him without forewarning, he tends to get upset. The other day I received an email from his preschool teacher and she mentioned how they ran out of time for “Jesus Time” that day and how he was upset. I know he does enjoy Jesus Time, so I’m sure he was upset for more than just the schedule change but . . .
My son would be a great candidate for purchasing the ActiveHome Pro Software. With this software a person can control various operations of the home right from their computer. My son could use this program to set the lights in our home for his schedule. He could set the bedroom light to come on when it’s time to wake up for preschool, then have the bathroom light come on as that’s the second step, the light over the stairs as he heads to the kitchen for breakfast and so on. He could probably even program the TV to come on at 3:30 when he is able to watch for a little while following nap. For him, a set schedule it perfect. For me, having programmed lights would ensure they would be turned off when he leaves the room!
In our home we really do have a pretty normal schedule for the boys. Of course it does get changed and disrupted at times but it’s amazing how well they know the schedule. Following breakfast they know it is “room time” (except for the 4 year old when he goes to preschool on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.) We have lunch at 12:30. Nap is 1:00 to 3:00 (or longer if they’re still sleeping) followed by a little bit of TV time, playing until supper, playing with Daddy, bath and bed.
I know that doesn’t sound very exciting but that’s the way it goes in our house. It’s amazing how well it works for us. I don’t have to fight with the boys to get them to play together upstairs in the morning, they just always do that. I don’t have to tell them “no” all day long because they’re asking to watch TV. They know when they can watch and when they can’t and seldom ask otherwise. It’s great!
Although a set schedule does many things for our boys, one thing it hasn’t done is get them used to walking upstairs when it’s dark. They’ve hit that stage when they’re nervous to go up to the dark bedrooms and bathroom without a brother along or some lights on upstairs to give them confidence. Again, the ActiveHome software could help with that. Another option would be a PalmPad remote control at the bottom of the stairs so they could turn on the lights upstairs before heading up.
It’s interesting to see how scheduled my oldest has become. It will be fun to see if the almost 3 year old and the almost 1 year old follow in their big brothers footsteps or if they will be more whimsical. We’ll see!