What is/was your daily routine for and with your toddlers?

It sounds like you keep pretty busy. I do have a five year old son who is a handful sometimes. You seem to have a routine down pretty well. I do have a routine to a certain extent. My husband works and I am a housewife and mother of course. Sometimes the daily chores can become mundane but I am happy to be around my little boy. That is very good though that you have the time and energy for your children. They really need the time and attention more than you realize. Stay at home mothers I believe are very special people. Have a great day.

Our routine at the moment is: 6.30am we all get up the girls sit and have a drink and I get washed and dressed. 7am: we have breakfast and i wash up tidy up etc 8am they both get dressed and then sit and watch tv for a bit 8.35am we leave the house and take the eldest to school 9am home between now and lunch we do all sorts of things go shopping see friends go to the park walk the dog or just stay in and play 12.30pm have lunch then the afternoon we chill out my youngest sometimes has a nap and I do some housework/washing 2.55pm we leave to collect my eldest from school take a slow walk there. we get in from the school walk about 3.30 by the time she has said bye to her friends etc and then they watch tv play while i cook tea which is about 5pm then bath at 6 and bed for 7pm they are left in their beds alone and fall asleep alone then the evening is my time to do what I need to do!

The day starts out early at about 6:30 when my 2 year old gets up with his dad. They watch cartoons and play until 7:30 then I get up and my husband goes off to work. Then my son and I have breakfast and watch his favorite cartoon Handy Manny. Then he plays with his toys and sort of helps clean the house with me. He likes to push the vacuum around. Then its bath time around 10:30. Then he plays with toys and rides his tricycle or train for about an hour while I watch the young and the restless. Then its noon and his dad comes home for lunch. We all have lunch together and when his dad leaves I sit and rock him a little and sing then he goes and lays down for his nap. He naps from 1 until 3 or 4. Then he gets up and watches TV while I fix supper. We eat supper at 5 when his dad gets home from work, and just play the rest of the evening until bed time around 9.

My children are all in school now and being at stay at home mom has taken on a new spin for me. Both of my younger daughters have special needs and require a strict evening routine. For that reason, any time on the internet, paying bills, doing mundane housework and such has to be done through the day while they are in school so that I can follow their routine in the evening. In my home, I don't encourage TV viewing. Not saying that my girls don't watch television but not as much as they would like. With school in session now I only have a few hours with them. When you incorporate homework, bathing, dinner and daily discussion there isn't much time for things like reading, song and dance, art and craft. But everyone here has the right idea. Make the most of the time you have with them and make it count. They grow up way too fast and are gone from us before we know it.

My daughter is in preschool now, so we're starting to get a good routine of getting up at 6:30, getting ready for school, then coming home and playing for a few, then doing any work needed to be done, dinner, then coloring for thirty minutes then bed. Simple. Lots of family time in between. But when she was a toddler, we knew not what the meaning of routine was LOL. Toddler and routine to me are just really hard words to put together.

My routine has totally changed this school year with my oldest going to Pre-K 2 days a week. School day: Get up at 7 with daughter (4)...shower and breakfast..get son (22 months) up and he eats breakfast. We are out the door by 8:15 to take dd to school. I usually try to do any errands around town and shopping on those days b/c it's so much easier to shop with just one child (who still can't say I want, I want). We eat lunch about 11 on those days and then my son takes a nap. We leave to pick up dd at 2:15. Once home we usually play or watch some tv...eat dinner around 6:30 (when hubby gets home) and then bed is 9 pm. Other days: Get up when we wake up (usually 9 am) and have breakfast. The kids get to watch some cartoons and then we try to clean at least one room each morning. Lunch is at noon or whenever hubby gets home for lunch. Then they both lay down for naps at 1ish. They stay in bed til 3:30 or 4 most days. When they get up they have a snack and then play until dinner at around 6:30 (rest of the day is the same as school day).

Well...I organize a local play group so my days are quite different. I have two boys one is 2 1/2 and the other is 5 months. They both go to bed at 8pm everynight and get up between 7 and 8 am. We all get up have breakfast, pack the bag and then we are out of the house for the morning. Our activities vary from morning to morning but usually include a trip to the local library for their scheduled library time, lunch with friends, play date and a friends house or a play date at the park. Then we usually visit our Nature Center and get groceries. I can't imagine spending so much time at home. We're usually home around 1:30 / 2pm and I feed the boys lunch and put them to bed. They sleep until 4ish during which time I'm preparing dinner (cutting up vegetables, measuring ingredients) When they wake up I color or read to my oldest son and we do "school" - right now were working on the alphabet. Then around 5 or 5:30 I'll start cooking dinner while the boys watch a show on the tv. We eat around 6 then I give the boys a bath and we all just play trains or whatever and then they're in bed by 8.