In line with setting routines, I’d say another important part of the day is nap time. This is especially so if your kids are still toddler to preschool age. For one, they need all the sleep they can get so they can grow up big, strong and healthy.

Also, sometimes nap time is essential for us parents to keep our sanity intact!

For adults, nap time can also be called “power napping,” which is especially popular in the office setting. Getting a few minutes of rest (from 15 to 30 minutes) helps keep us alert. Or at the very least, this can help us catch up on some sleep if we don’t get enough at nights. Research tells us that 15 minutes is the optimal time for power-napping because this is the time when our brain waves reach those patterns wherein we feel most alert after waking. Too little time and we don’t get enough rest. Too much, and we would only feel sleepy and less alert.

For kids, meanwhile, they need as much sleep as they can get. The brain’s pituitary function–which tells the body to grow–only works when we’re asleep. So sleep is important, especially in those growing years.

Another very compelling reason to take naps, aside from the growth factor, is that children usually get very cranky when they’re sleepy. And cranky kids can be such a headache for parents! Believe me, I’ve had those times when both my kids missed their afternoon naps and they end up very cranky in the early evening. This can potentially spell trouble, especially if you’re looking forward to a good dinner or catching up with quality time in the evenings.

Okay, so last time I gave a brief introduction on the importance of routines. These routines that kids (and families) should follow aren’t exactly supposed to be rigid and time-based, but instead predictable sequences of events. These help kids have a concept of time and handle such situations with confidence.

I mentioned about my own routines. Working at home, my daily routine usually involves my younger daughter, “C” who is two years old. Every morning, we drive mom and her older sister, “P” to preschool (my wife works as a teacher in my daughter’s school).

When we get back home, I usually check my emails and catch up on the blogs I read. C then watches morning cartoons. By about 10 a.m., she would feel sleepy and I would get to bed with her until she sleeps. I then take this opportunity to freshen up and tidy up whatever mess we’d done, after which I try to start doing some work online.

By noontime, C would have already awaken, and by this time we would drive out to pick up mom and P from school.

I think this morning routine is very important since it helps establish to C that we need to have some time to work on our respective activities each morning. For me, it’s starting with work (remember, I work at home), and for her, catching up with her sleep with the morning nap. It also establishes our togetherness, particularly when I take her to bed when she’s already sleepy.

Occasionally, I would break the routine of my having to work. I would play with C and watch TV with her until she gets tired of me and goes on to play by herself. Sometimes instead of heading straight home, I’d bring C to a café and I would work on my laptop while she enjoys pastries and watches people.

I think kids do appreciate knowing what to expect in the course of a day, and knowing to also appreciate some changes when called-for.

My wife is a preschool teacher. Along with being mom, her training in handling children makes her the authority at home when it comes to educating–and yes, disciplining–the kids. She always reminds me to follow daily routines so the kids will get used to some organization at home.

Generally, I’m a disorganized person. I’m more spur-of-the-moment rather than scheduled. I’m more adaptive rather than structured. I’m more dynamic rather than static. But of course, if it’s for the children’s good, then I would have to adjust and adopt.

Routines are important because they help instill awareness of time and enhance a child’s feeling of security, so I’m told. Routines help enhance a child’s self-confidence, especially if he or she has the opportunity to have an active role in contributing to the flow of events.

Routines don’t necessarily have to be time-based, but these can be flow- or event-based. So you don’t necessarily have to follow a strict time table, but instead you can do activities based on sequence.

I’d like to talk more about routines in the next few posts, but let me first illustrate some of the routines our family follows every day–or every weekday, at least.

More to come …

Much has been said about full-time motherhood and how great it is for moms to be able to spend their time with their kids while dad goes to work every weekday. To many mothers out there, motherhood is a full-time job. It’s actually more full-time than your regular nine-to-fiver. It’s a job 24/7, 365 days a year (add more during leap years). But what about the full-time dad?

Hello folks. I’m Angelo and I’ll be filling in for Lara while her family takes care of some pirate matters. Why all this talk about the full-time dad, you ask? I consider myself to be one.

Well, actually fatherhood is also a full-time job. And having to go to work to make a decent living for the family is considered part of that. But in my case it’s different. I work at home. That’s not your usual setup for fathers, but I do know a handful of dads who do the same.

My work and business involve going online and working on Web and content development projects. So that means I can practically work anywhere there’s a decent Internet connection. And I sometimes do work at cafés outside of the house. But most of the time, I’m right here in my home office.

Working at home can be both rewarding and difficult, especially when you have one preschool-aged child and a toddler like I do (another one’s on the way!). Want to find out why? Watch this space. I’ll be writing about my experiences every other day here on the Parenting Blog.