As daycare centres are closed due to the ongoing pandemic, our 19 month old toddler has been spending the past 4+ weeks at home with my wife and I. We knew pretty soon that we needed a strict routine for all of us to stay sane in these unprecedented times. The daily rhythm that a routine introduces is one of the things we’ve adopted from the book “Simplicity Parenting” by Kim John Payne and Lisa M. Ross. So far, I believe this rhythm is the most important thing allowing us to cope and balance work with caring for our son. A helping factor: My wife is self employed and has been able to get by on about 4 hours of work for as long as I can remember (with a satisfactory income), and my company has gone into short-time work, reducing my hours to 50% = 4 hrs / day as well.
So without further ado, here’s is our unedited schedule:
| Time | Activity |
| 6:30 – 8:00 am | Wake up, play and prepare breakfast with Dad. |
| 8:00 – 10:00 am | Mom’s 1st work slot; morning cirle and some music, then get dressed & play with dad and go for a 1 hr stroll to the lake (throwing stones and watching ducks). |
| 10:00 am – 2:00 pm | Dad works; art hour with Mom, then lunch and nap time. |
| 2:00 – 5:00 pm | Mom’s 2nd work slot; snack time with Dad, then building fortresses from the sofa and going outside for some light gardening. |
| 5:00 – 6:00 pm | Family hour, playing and reading together, and sharing stories about our days. |
| 6:00 – 7:30 pm | Dinner, then getting ready for bed and finally story time before laying down with Dad. |
| 7:30 – 8:30 pm | Pre-cooking tomorrow’s lunch. |
| 8:30 – 10:00 pm | Parents’ time off to wind down and spend some time together. |