Quiet Hour

Hello again friends!

I truly hope you all are enjoying life and doing well!

I'm popping in quickly today with a post about our daily quiet hour.

"It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all." ~ Laura Ingles Wilder 

I don't believe it is good or right to allow children to run the home. I've always approached my job as "mother" with the attitude that I run our home and schedule and determine the atmosphere here.

Since I've never sent my children to school or daycare and have never had a nanny, I feel as though I really need a break in the afternoons.

That's easy when you have babies and toddlers who nap.

But what about older children?

Our quiet hour has stemmed from a realization I made several years ago, and that was, Oh no... my oldest child no longer naps. So... Now what do I do? How do I still get my afternoon break?

"Every day of your life, whether you're eight or eighty, you take definitive steps in creating the life you have and the thinking that supports it." ~ Susan Branch

Noise and chaos can really wear me down, so every afternoon (usually somewhere around 1:00 and 3:00, depending on the day) I will announce to the kids to prepare for quiet hour.

By this time in the day our chores and school lessons are done, the kitchen has been cleaned from lunch, and the baby is napping.

Most of the time we've had our nature walk by this point, too, and I'm winding down on laundry for the day.

I go through the house and turn down the lights. 

It is time for all of us to take a short break!

We've earned it!

The children don't have to sleep or even be in their beds, but they must be quiet!

Good quiet hour activities are things like reading...

Drawing...

And quiet play...

I also don't mind if they watch a little PBS Kids, or a 30-min. Veggie Tales.

And while they are having a quiet hour, I am having a quiet hour!

I like to spend my quiet hour doing things like reading, baking, blogging, texting a friend, etc...

Sitting in the garden in the summertime, or in my front room with hot tea in the wintertime, are also good ways to spend the hour.

If I'm going through a season of illness or sleep issues, I use the hour to actually lay down and rest.

Mamas, it's important to schedule a rest into your day!

It will benefit you as a wife and mother in so many ways!

A short afternoon break can help you to restore your energy and sanity.

Our culture places high value on being busy and on the go. The general idea is that if your schedule's maxed out and you're stressed, then you must have a meaningful life.

But the Lord doesn't call us to a stressed out life.

"Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." ~ Matthew 11:28-30

Now, some of you may be thinking, My kids would never go for that... How do you get them to stay quiet?

But, for the child who has been faithfully trained in obedience, this should not be a problem. Because this really just boils down to obedience. What mama says, goes.

If you tell them that you expect them to remain quiet for a full hour, then they should obey without question.

My children submit to my agenda. I do not submit to theirs. When one of my children disrupts quiet hour and begins to behave loudly, I do not think, Well, so much for that. I guess we won't have a quiet hour today. No. Instead, I meet the disobedience with age-appropriate discipline and remind them, "This is quiet hour. I expect you to find a quiet activity until the timer goes off." And then we try again. 

Once quiet hour has ended, we resume our days' activities. By this point it is late afternoon and time to do a house tidy, put school books away, start on supper, and set the table. 

An older, wiser homeschool mama told me once, "Just as they need play time, they need down time."

I've always tried to give my children a healthy balance of both.

I may not have it down perfectly, but it's a routine that we've established for our family and it works for us!

My prayer is that I've given you some practical encouragement today.

Please feel free to say "Hi" in my comments.

I love hearing from you!

xo,

~ Courtney ~