the joys of pyjama days and taking time to recharge

Pyjama days! Everyone loves a good pyjama day. The sprogits do especially. I lost count of the number of times over the past few years when they said "can we have a jama day today?" and I was forced to reply "sorry, it's a school day so you need to put your school uniform on, but we can have one at the weekend." The change in mood was always palpable, and lets face it, "the weekend" is a long time away for most folk, but even longer for littlies who have a limited concept of how time passes.

I must confess that since becoming a mum I am less inclined to early mornings. When I was at school myself I could do both late nights and early mornings, depending on what was required (read: rocking out at a local rock club/having to actually get to school on time). I'll also admit that I don't have the same aversion to early mornings as Daddy Bells does. He is definitely a night owl, as he will no doubt tell you himself. But I am slowly becoming less open to the idea of getting up before I am ready. I take more time to wake up now. I need more time to prepare myself mentally for the day ahead. I definitely find I need more sleep than I used to.

So our morning routine is currently one where we wake up when we are good and done with sleeping. Sometimes that is at 6 am. Sometimes it is not until 8am. I usually read in bed upon waking, and one by one the sprogits come and join me to say good morning, have a cuddle, debrief their dreams and tell me what they would like to do on that day. This is also the time we use to chat about things that are bothering us, or more long term plans that we see happening (or hope will happen). I've found it very useful to be able to have that time to discuss deeper feelings, as during the day there tends to be a lot going on/needing doing. Always there is washing to wash, mouths to feed, activities to do, books to read, pictures to draw, stories to write, owwies to kiss better, and (for Small Clanger) bad guys to destroy in ever-more-elaborate ways. But first thing in the morning is our time to reflect, take stock and ponder.

Due to our current Monday routine of gymnastics, followed by the weekly shopping, Tuesdays are a day of rest. I need time to recover from spending a large portion of the day on my feet. My hips, particularly the left one, are not happy with long periods of standing/walking, especially when combined with lugging lots of shopping around. The sprogits also benefit from a day where we have only home-based activities planned, especially after a day where they have been out and about and done "stuff" with lots of social contact with others.

So, this morning, when Small Clanger said "can we have a jama day today?" the answer was not "sorry, you have to go to school" it was "oh, good idea, we're not going anywhere today. Sure we can!" and as a result only Tiny Clanger has gotten dressed, and that was entirely of her own choosing.

It hasn't had any impact upon what we've done. The sprogits have created more playdough food...

Breakfast pancakes with golden syrup and chocolate sauce, grapes and a cherry. Plus 2 plates of strawberry buns.

... watched Ice Age 2 after watching half of it the other night, and are now opening the Hama bead sets. Well I did say they were for a rainy day, and it started raining about 10 minutes ago! I imagine there will also be some Reading Eggs/Eggspress later and some cooking.

It is (in my opinion) a definite advantage of home ed over school ed that we do not have to conform to a strict dress code to be allowed to learn. Learning happens all the time, wherever and whenever the environment fosters it, and is not precluded by wearing pyjamas. So, long live pyjama days! And long live balancing hectic days with calm ones, and taking time to reflect. And here's to many more to come!