To Schedule or not to Schedule

I am a person who likes a schedule. This is ironic, being as my husband is possibly the most spontaneous person on the planet and has zero sense of time, and my children are not particularly inclined to any one's schedule but their own. I, however, thrive on a schedule and not having a specific one most of the time tends to distress me a bit.

When the girls were born, I was very deliberate about allowing them to set their own schedules. This went against every fiber of my being, personally, but I felt it was what was best for them. They ate when they were hungry, slept when they were tired, they were awake and playing when they wanted to be. This worked out well for us. Both girls established their own, pretty dependable schedules and started sleeping through the night at relatively early ages (6 weeks for the oldest, 7 weeks for the youngest). As the girls have gotten older, I have had to manipulate their schedules at times, but I still pretty much allow them to set the pace. It seems to keep us all a little less stressed and a little more relaxed.

Since it is fall, and we basically muddled through the summer with no sense of a specific schedule, I decided it would be a good idea to enroll the girls in some community education classes and some swimming lessons. I thought this would be good for the girls - they could meet some new kids, play with some new toys, learn some new things. I also thought it would be good for me - I would have some sense of stability on a day-to-day basis. So, we have community education classes for the girls in the mornings on MTW and swimming lessons on TTH evenings. Sounds great, right? A type A personality's wet dream? Scheduled learning time. Scheduled exercise time. Nap times in the middle. A free day on Friday. Weekends open for quality daddy time.

Well, let me let you in on a little secret...scheduled time is just about as stressful as "free" time. We have to be certain places at certain times. On certain days, ole mom here is in charge of snack for the class and if she didn't do her snack shopping ahead of time, then she's got one more thing to get done before she goes to school. And if we walk to school, which I thought was an excellent idea, then we need to schedule another hour (each way) out of our day. And you have to pack lunches if you're walking home during lunch hour and...and...and. You get the picture. Let me tell you - after one week of schedules for the girls, I was one exhausted mama! And let's just say that housecleaning...while always on the back burner as far as I'm concerned...didn't even make it to the burners last week.

For my first week, I think I did relatively well. I hadn't planned on being so tired, but knowing that my girls enjoyed themselves and that I really enjoyed myself too, really made it all worth it for me. We started the grind again today, but I drove to class this morning instead of walking, and that helped relieve some of the stress. We're going to walk to class tomorrow and on Wednesday, so we'll see if those days feel crazier than today did. And I do already have my snack ready for tomorrow's class, so I won't be getting in trouble with the teacher...

So, I ask you, dear reader, how do you feel about schedules? Are you a free spirit? Do you schedule every minute of your day? If your schedule goes awry, are you a basket case for the rest of the day, or are you able to maintain your composure? Please join in the discussion and share your words of wisdom with the rest of us...