
I made the mistake of turning the TV on during bed time ‘routine’ last night. I say ‘routine’ but that is wrong. It is no longer a ‘routine’. The ‘routine’ ended the day they could shower themselves. I have been in denial and it has just dawned on me.
A ‘routine’ implies a set of unchanged activities. Bath time is never the same. Sometimes it’s easy and most of the time it’s not. It’s not that they don’t want to shower. They just run on different times. The boys are nearly 10 and 8.5. Old enough to sort themselves out. They don’t need supervised. And after 1000’s of bath times we are over it.
So I take the opportunity to lie down for 5 minutes while they shower. I turn the TV on.

In one ear I hear the boys using the bathroom like their own personal water park. In the other is my wife. I am in trouble for taking 5 minutes to myself while she makes the kids' school lunches.