The author of this website makes an interesting generalization - that adults
prefer or do better with a predictable schedule or routine. This is
certainly not true for me - in fact, I find a scheduled life quite stressful
for some reason - and it is not true for many other people I know. Adults
are not all alike, after all. Neither are babies.

Another point about scheduling: I have worked for a couple of Children's Aid
Societies in Ontario and have soaked up all the information I could get
about abused children. It is common to use schedules with children who have
been abused or neglected, but it is seen as a second-best approach. These
children have learned that people cannot be trusted and that their needs for
love and affection will not be met. The schedule at least gives them a sense
of life being predictable. For a child who has often gone hungry, it is a
comfort to know that food will be available, guaranteed, at noon. For a
child who has been left in a car alone for hours while parents were
drinking, it is comforting to know he'll be put to sleep in a warm bed at
nine o'clock.

But this is really an artificial way to help the child feel more secure and
safe. It is so much better for a child to know that when he is hungry, food
will be available, that when he is tired, he'll be parented to sleep, that
when he wants to play, he can play. This is true security, and it helps the
child understand and respect his own needs.

Teresa Pitman
Guelph, Ontario

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html