Calm and Peaceful Days

* This is one of my favorite posts that I have written. Mainly, because it works for me when I follow my own advice!  I wrote it originally 2 years ago for a Christian woman’s magazine.

The alarm goes off at 8:00am. You jump out of bed.

 You have to find the kids clothes to wear, feed them, and be out the door by 9:30.

 Oh no!  You forgot to get the library books together!

Now you have to hurry to get everything done so you can search for them — and you still have to make a grocery list.

 Your kids can’t find anything to eat because they ate the cereal yesterday. Now what are you going to do?   ” Just find something!” you yell.

They end up eating Goldfish® crackers.

You tell them to get dressed so that you can find the library books and make your grocery list.

Your older child comes in wearing clothes that are too small. You tell him to change but he says that these are the only clothes that are clean.

Ugh! “I guess you will just have to wear them,” you say.

Your preschooler is running around half clothed with a Batman® cape.

 You gently tell him to get dressed.

 “NO! I want to wear my green shirt and purple pants!!!”  he exclaims.

 You tell him that he can’t because they are dirty.

“Then I will not go!” He sits in the middle of the floor refusing to budge.

 You still have not found the library books that you need or made your grocery list.

You only have 10 minutes until you need to go. And this is just the morning.

Think of how off balance the rest of your day will be.

Now let’s look at a different day.

You wake up at 7:00am.

You read your Bible, pray, drink coffee, and daydream.

You make pancakes for breakfast.

You wake up the kids. They make their beds, eat breakfast, and put the clothes on that they picked out the night before.

You put the meat in the crock pot that you will have for supper tonight.

 You get the library books that are by the door, grab your grocery list, and leave the house 15 minutes early. Everyone is calm, peaceful, and happy. They are ready to have a great day.

What is the difference in these two days?

In the second day you got ready for the next day the night before.

My mom always taught me that I should lay my clothes out the night before for the next day. This is something I have done since I was little.

 It got me thinking. If it works with clothes, then why not with everything else?

Then I decided that I need to look at all my plans for the next day to see if there is anything I can do the night before to make my next day run more smoothly.

 I have my kids follow this routine before they go to bed.

They are in charge of finding the clothes they want to wear the next day and showing them to me for my approval.

This is especially helpful with an opinionated preschooler.

 They are also in charge of getting together anything else they might need for the next day. For example:  if the next day is church,then they have to get their Bibles and put them by the door.

When they are tucked in bed I look over my plans and see what I need to prepare for the next day.

Do I need to get meat out to thaw for supper?

Do I need to make sure all library books are together and by the door?

What clothes will I wear the next day?

I also decide what I will make for breakfast the next morning and make sure that I have all the ingredients.

 My grocery list is always ready to go because I keep a list on the refrigerator of the things I need. I put a mark by the product when I run out of it.

Another thing to ensure a smooth day is to try (notice I said try) to get up before everyone else.

 I like to get up read the Bible, pray, eat breakfast, and day dream before the others get up. Having that time to charge up just seems to make the day go better.

I want to add that just because your day starts smoothly does not mean it will stay that way. There are always going to be unexpected events that happen; but, when they do  it seems not to affect me as much if I have planned my day.

R16:16 Team Administrator

Sharla Orren has a BA in Sociology from Henderson State University. She loves homeschooling her two boys: Cash, who is 9, and Keyton, who is 5. She is the wife of Robert Orren, the Youth and Family Minister and a deacon for the Hope church of Christ in Hope, AR. She enjoys teaching Bible classes and a class for girls that she recently started with her friend. She currently has her own blog, Look At What You Are Seeing in which she writes about homeschooling, natural living, homemaking and time management. She was appointed by Governor Mike Huckabee to serve on The United States Selective Service Board. She serves on The Hempstead County Library Board. She also serves as a storm spotter and data collector for The National Weather Service.

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