Evening/Bedtime Routine

[Patience]

What's your after dinner to bedtime routine? Do you all use bedtime to let your kids read?

[Mommamo]

Mine are still little, but we read to all of them together (Bible stories) and then I read to one child and dh to the other (since the littlest just goes along with me or dh right now) and then the 3 and 5 year old look at books on their own while they're going to bed. The 5 year old has some she can read on her own that she looks at, and the 3 year old just looks at board book pictures.

[my3sons]

After supper, we have some family time together - either playing cards, telling stories, board games, watching a movie, etc. - on the nights my dh isn't traveling. On the nights he is traveling, the dc have "dinner and a movie" night because I need a break and they need some down time. Either way, by 7:30 PM we're all headed upstairs. I put our baby to bed, and then the rest of us (with my dh if he's home) cuddle up on someone's bed and talk, usually about the day, or what's going on the rest of the week, etc. This is just for around 15 minutes or so - then we pray, and the boys can stay up in their rooms until 9:00 PM at the latest; reading, doing handicrafts, putting together a puzzle, but whatever they do it must be quiet. They look forward to this time and have gotten to where they regulate it themselves. They know if they come out or downstairs, that it will be lights out. This works well for our family, but I know every family is different.

In Christ,
Julie