The Importance of Stucture

There I was, trying to multitask by taking care of some business, blogging, putting a call in to my mother, in my pajamas…and it was 3pm! Children were everywhere, crying was somewhere, and the house quickly was becoming unrecognizable. Has this ever happened to you? Well, it has for me and I vowed to never have it happen again!

Whenever I lose sight of my goals and plans I had written for the day ..it has always spelled chaos. The importance of structure in your life is the difference between a calm house and an insane one. Here is what I’ve done in my life to ensure, for the most part, a happy, calm home.

• Write in your daily, planning pages for everyday of your week, the time you plan to wake up. I plan to make sure I get to bed at a reasonable time and I wake up at 7a.m. I shower, get dressed, put on make-up and get ready for the day, have devotions with my coffee and check my emails.
• Make breakfast for everyone and eat together. We homeschool, but non-homechoolers can apply this, too. I do devotions on a smaller scale with my children during this time together. We clean-up together, feed pets, and everyone gets dressed for the day.
• Plan structure within your days, such as crafts with the kids, your grocery shopping days, a day to go bowling or to the movies and the like. When planning your days in advance, go over your week with the kids. This keeps them in the loop and you can adjust if changes are requested. 
• Here’s a big one…plan the time you want for yourself and do it within the structure you chose and stick to it. Be sure to remind your children that you are spending this time for yourself and you will be with them as soon as you’re finished. When being proactive with your children and your time, they’ll respect it more readily than demanding it during chaos.

• When the sun goes down, plan when they should start winding down, getting jammies on and their teeth brushed. This helps ensure happier nights.

I hope I’ve passed on some wisdom that has changed my world…the importance of structure.