Traditions
I don’t know how they happen, but when you have little kids, dozens of routines and daily traditions get started. And, if you deviate from those routines and traditions, all hell can break loose. I really don’t know where or when they start, but your child will let you know the second you don’t do it, or you do it wrong, whatever “IT” is. This just totally reinforces the belief in my wife and myself that, above everything else in their lives, children crave order.
We have routines in our house on practically everything that takes place, from getting dressed, eating, and going potty. The most routines happen at the end of the day when my wife and I get the kids ready for bed.
First, they get their jamies on, then they all pick up toys, each kid gets different toy categories every night, then each one gets to pick out a story book, then they get their teeth brushed and it’s off to bed. Upstairs, we say prayers, each one says thanks for something that happened during the day, and we tuck them in.
Each one has their own special way they want you to say goodnight. And the very last thing, if that isn’t enough, my littlest Matthew, goes to sleep snuggled up against my wife or myself while watching pictures float across the bedroom ceiling. They are projected from a battery powered, dome shaped, music box that plays Brahm’s Lullaby for about six minutes after winding it up. We watch stars, birds, elephants, kangaroos, planets, you name it it’s there.
That started when he was a baby and we couldn’t get him to go to sleep in his crib. We found that he would go to sleep if he laid on your chest and watched the ceiling show. Then we just laid him in his crib. That has been the tradition for almost a year and a half now. He’s out of his crib and in a “big boy” bed. My wife and I have decided that we should wean him of this behavior.
I’m going to miss it. It’s one of those beautiful parent child experiences that will never happen again.
