I can't speak for all parents, but the majority of parents thrive on routine. Not all of us have a set schedule that we never deviate from, but we at least have a routine. We do everything in a certain order everyday. It helps a lot, and kids usually love it. Unfortunately, sometimes they love it a little too much and our routine backfires.
A few days ago, a letter was sent home from Caleb's school saying that today the kids would be allowed to wear jeans and Phillies gear, or at least red or white shirts. It's awesome to know the school supports the Phils as much as we do, so I'm loving this. The problem is, Caleb is used to wearing his uniform every day. Each morning he has two options, khakis and a blue shirt, or blue pants and a white shirt. It makes it really easy to decide what he's wearing, and I never have to worry how he's going to look if he wants to dress himself.
Apparently, however, Caleb thinks that the only way he can go to school is if he's wearing his uniform. So this morning when I put him in jeans and a Phillies shirt, he looked at me with utter disgust and says, "But Mommy, I need my new pants." I tried to explain that the school sent home a note saying they were allowed to wear this today. Daddy tried to explain that it was a special day and he was allowed to wear them. We told him everyone else would be wearing similar clothes too. It didn't matter to Caleb. He was grumpy all morning and wouldn't even give me a kiss before he got on the bus. He just couldn't break from normal routine. To quote a good movie, "Talk about anal. He must have been toilet trained at gunpoint."
So how do rid ourselves of the routine monster? Just remember it's good to have a routine. But perhaps sometimes we should remember to be a little spontaneous. Spice things up and teach our kids how to go with the flow. Rolling with the punches is a great characteristic to have, so let's remember to teach our kids that too.
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