Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Stopping The Avalanche

To my son Tommy,

Talk about a backfire. Last night your mother put you to bed around 7:30. She is trying to get you ready for the upcoming schedule change as you begin school two days a week and she begins nursing school and I, well I just keep doing what I am doing and try to fill in any holes in the schedule. So to bed we went at 7:30 which is at least an hour and half earlier than you are used. It is definitely a change from bedtime during vacation which some times went to after midnight.

And you responded right away the next morning. You got up right when your dad did at 6:15am. Of course your mother wasn't quite ready for that and I had to soon head off to work.

Much like a snowball can start an entire avalanche, this change has the potential to snow us in. Since you went to bed early, you woke up early, and you fell asleep even earlier tonight since you were so tired from the schedule change. I mean really early like before 6pm before I even got home. So if we were to let you sleep, the next day you'd be up even earlier and to bed even earlier again. Thus the avalanche comparison.

The only way to stop an avalanche is before it becomes an avalanche. So much to your dismay, I had to wake you up and try to get you back on schedule. In other words we are attempting to grab the snowball before it rolls too far downhill.

Instead of forcing a bedtime to make you adjust, we will most likely just enforce a wake time. In my experience, if you make sure you wake up at a certain time and stick with it, bedtime will find a suitable time all by itself. So remember, little changes can bring big consequences, so make sure you make the right ones and correct any poorly thought out ones immediately.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

No comments:

Post a Comment