I have a routine set -up for most of my days:
-Walking in the morning
-Getting Ricki ready for school
-Prayers,breakfast, normal straightening of the house
-housework/errands/ other things that need doing/ make lunch
-Nap
-late lunch
-time with Ricki/housework/ make soup for supper (most days)
-supper
-computer time
Of course, there is a lot more, and many variations. But in general, there is a certain set-up to my day.
However on Monday night after returning home at G-d-knows-what-hour from Jerusalem,and feeling extra tired (ie, EXHAUSTED) due to the pain the bus ride had entailed, I decided that:
1) Ricki could go late to school the next morning
2) I would "sleep in", and do my walking on Tuesday in the evening. (On arising it would be too hot already...)
Well, my intentions were good. And I really did need that sleep. But I was hungry as could be in the morning (exercise reduces appitite, except for swimming), and although I stuck to my diet, it was difficult.
But the real problem was that when afternoon arrived, I decided to finish a book that I have been reading (effectively postponing housework, as I felt exhausted from the heat wave we were having). And when sundown arrived (and the time to "make up" my morning walk), the book won out over walking for over an hour.
Routines usually develop because they WORK. Having a set pattern eliminates wondering what to do next, and helps us tackle those chores you may not enjoy. [If cleaning the toilet is a regular "have-to-do-it job" for Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, you are not likely to skip it, even if you can't stand to do it...]
And for those of us with children with intelectual disability, routine is an effective way to help that person learn and know what needs to be done, and what is expected of them. And they also will find unenjoyable chores more palatable is that is "the way things are done".
[G-d willing, the downside of Routines tomarrow]
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