Kids, especially young kids, thrive on routines. Routines give a young mind structure and security in an unfamiliar world. And routines aid the parents in teaching discipline. For single parents routines also serve as a time management tool. This last part obviously also applies to intact households but I think it’s especially true for the single parent households. Single parents lives are so hectic that routines allow us to compartmentalize the numerous tasks at hand.
Before I became a single parent, I never really thought of setting up my life around routines. There was a certain unpredictability to my days. Of course I went to work daily, came home at a certain hour, and usually ate around the same time, but there was two of us to divide the chores and parenting of our son. If one of us was tired or needed to do something unexpected, the other would step in to help pick up the slack. And with two people handling the workload, we obviously had more time for doing something on a whim…we had that extra time after all that needed to be done was done.
After having taken care of my son as the custodial parent for 3 years now, I’ve managed to establish…or fallen into…routines to help me manage my time and tasks. It’s sort of a weekly cycle that repeats week after week. I know what I have to do, sometimes without even thinking, based on day of the week and even hour of the day. I know some people might think of the repetitiveness of it all as “boring” but I see it as sort of the opposite. These routines allow me to get a handle on the numerous necessary tasks facing me as a single working custodial parent and better focus on being a father to my son. There were times in the past when I’ve been so overwhelmed by all the things I knew I had to do that my mind couldn’t focus on being the best possible parent to my son. Routines helped me alleviate the pressures. Certain things can get repetitive but watching my son grow and mature offers up new joy and amazement on a daily basis!
One thing I did realize is that routines have skewed my perception of time. It seems to make time go so fast! Living on a weekly cycle of routines makes a month seem like 4 days. It’s already Feb 8 when Christmas just seemed like it was last week! Maybe I’m just getting…or maybe time just flies when you’re having fun.
How about other single parents out there? How much of your life is based on routines? How do you break up the routines to slow down father time?
Loading ...