Parenting Through the Evening Hours
Evening Routines, Shortcuts for Chores & Connecting with Children
Feb 28, 2009
The evening hours are often referred to as the witching hours in families with young children. Tempers flair, there is a lot of work to do and tired children are likely to cry and tantrum. Planning ahead can simplify the evening hours. Establish an evening routine, use dinner-time shortcuts and find the time to connect with each child.
Have a Simple Evening Routine
Whether both parents work and the entire family is just getting home at dinnertime or one parent has been home all day, the evening is stressful. Dinner needs to be cooked and eaten, homework needs to be done and bedtime is quickly approaching. Create a simple evening routine and stick to it. Kids and parents often find it easier to cope when life is predictable.
Dinner should be at roughly the same time every night. Homework expectations for older kids should be clear and enforced each night. Bedtime preparations should begin at the same time every day. Once a routine is established, children will begin transitioning from one activity to another with less difficulty.
Find Shortcuts to Ease the Evening Workload
One of the reasons the evenings are so difficult is because there is a lot of work to do. Parents are busy trying to get dinner on the table, clean up the kitchen and get things ready for the next day.
Any shortcut that eases the work load can make more time for family. Use the crock pot. Prepare a meal in the morning, let it cook all day and serve it when you walk in the door in the evening. Crock pots also simplify after-dinner cleaning. The only pot to wash is the crock pot insert.
Divide the work load for quick, evening cleaning. One person can tackle the dishes, another clears the table and another sweeps the floor. Working together also gives the family some important quality, connection time. In her book Connection Parenting [Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, Inc., 2005], Pam Leo reminds us that children thrive when they work alongside their parents. Parents that let their children help make dinner or clean up the kitchen are building self-esteem and creating competence.
Spend Quality, Connection Time with the Children
Very often a child’s difficult evening behavior is because he is simply trying to get his parent’s attention. Take fifteen minutes at the beginning of the evening routine to play a game, read, dance or be silly with the kids. This is especially helpful if the family is reconnecting after a day apart.
The evening hour doesn’t have to be the witching hour for families. Establish and enforce an evening routine. Find shortcuts to help lighten the dinner and bedtime work load. Finally, be sure to carve out fifteen minutes for that all important family connection time.
Source:
Leo, Pam. Connection Parenting. Deadwood, Oregon: Wyatt-Mackenzie Publishing, Inc., 2005.
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