New routines

I am finding that parenting is very similar to teaching. You try new ideas and then you think them over, then try new ones.

We have been trying to work out a nightime routine and have tried several things. Things got so bad at one point that on Sunday I took a chair into the bedroom and said it was to supervise as they were getting ready for bed. I had tried putting a timer (Sucena messed with it), I tried helping them with their clothes, but that seemed to extend the time for getting to bed. I tried leaving them alone (did not work), I tried directing everyone and that was too tiring. Sucena was crying every night, no matter how little the conflict was. I concluded that I needed to be in their room at bedtime. I think Sucena needed the comfort of my presence in the room.

Now my new routine is to send the two youngest upstairs first,then the two older ones about 20 minutes after. I give them 5 minute shower limit. I do not help them get their clothes unless they are not able to find something. at I give them a 5 minute warning on when prayers and reading will start. I then start praying and reading. People then start settling if they have not done so in order to listen to me read. So far I am reading small books that my sister gave me so they can read at church. They are wonderful books about angels and Our Lady of Guadalupe and other saints. The girls love stories and these are written for kids, except the vocabulary is still very high, which is great. So far we have read two of them and I am afraid I will run out sometime soon. I hope to get them into the habit of reading before bed. I love the time reading to them, as I see them to sleep. We had tried this routine before but the stories were two long and the girls just seemed to want us in the room for too long. They still do not fall asleep while I'm reading, but I only read enough for about 10-15 minutes. This is enough to calm them down.

Today Mirellen ran in her one and only Cross Country meet she was allowed as a 6th grader at Kromrey. We are very proud of her. I will add the one picture I have later. She got a participant ribbon. The funny thing was that she said that she could pass a friend but did not want to . She wanted to run with her friend. One of the Mexican guys in the team yelled at her to pass her but she kept waiting for her. Later in her own words she said" Better to lose a race than to lose a friend"... very true... but funny.