Quiet Times

Our children are about 18 months to 2 years apart. That means when our oldest was still 5 years old, our fourth child was born! It may have been to retain my sanity that I first started the practice of "quiet time". Of course, I tried to get all 4 boys on the same nap schedule in the afternoon, but when it came to point when some of them were ready to give up napping, I changed the name to Quiet Time. It was during this 2 hr period in the afternoon that all the children would go to their beds, whether they napped or not and have quiet time.

The babies and toddlers, of course napped while listening to their Bible tapes.
The older children (we continued this practice until they reached the age of about 12 years old) would be required to do their devotions during this time and then they would be free to read or quietly play on their beds. (a good question about Quiet Times from a mom to Marilyn)

I found it to be very beneficial to all the children to have a rest time in the middle of their busy day to settle down and be still. Beyond that, we made profitable use of that time. For my children who didn't nap, but couldn't read yet, Uncle Rick Reads the Proverbs and later Uncle Rick Reads the Psalms and Matthew would be their devotional time. Children need to learn the discipline early of spending daily time in God's Word. We found that our children committed LOTS of Scripture to memory with out any effort on their part or ours just by this listening time. They also learned a Biblical frame of reference as the Bible was such a consistent factor in their daily lives. It has been a benefit to them even as adults.

After about 1/2 hr or 1 hr of listening to Bible, they could listen to other educational CD's.....
The goal is to provide QUALITY educational reading/audio material. Even when a child is quietly playing with legos or paper dolls on their bed, they are assimilating valuable information which will help build in them character or godliness. We constantly evaluate what our children are reading or listening to and try to make wise choices.

Hope that helps you in your planning. I know I NEEDED that time for refreshment myself. The QUIET was a huge blessing to me as well as to the children.

~Marilyn