Recently I went away for a weekend with some old friends. We did the usual girl things (ate well, shopped a little, talked a lot) and discovered something about ourselves: we all struggled with staying up later than we—and our husbands—thought we should. Any mom knows that those quiet hours after the kids’ bedtime are not to be squandered, so we packed them with To Do lists that would put Martha Stewart to shame. But that uninterrupted time came at a dear price: a grouchy wife/mom trying to meet the unrelenting needs of a busy household while conveying the love of Christ to the demanding little darlings.
So we made a pact. A secret one.
We set bedtimes for ourselves and agreed to keep them. Wakeup times too. We also set a deadline four weeks away, made some contest rules, and established a sizable reward for the most disciplined mom…cold hard cash. Then we went home reveling in the joy of knowing we were about to surprise our husbands with a happier wife.
Scorecard
Week 1 was easy. It was motivating to know that dramatic life change was just around the corner. Some husbands even noticed the difference, and the kids definitely noticed a happier mom.
Week 2 was pretty easy too. Except the laundry was beginning to pile up (who has time to fold it when you have to be in bed by 10:30?) and homeschool planning wasn’t getting done anymore.
Week 3 was a real struggle. The body clock was willing to consider change but could easily be persuaded to revert to its old night-owl ways, and now there was no denying the backlog of housework. I lost a point staying up late to do laundry and make a book list for a curriculum fair. (Homeschooling is the perfect excuse to buy more books. As if I needed one.) But I only lost the one point. I was still in the running.
In Week 4, something happened. Actual life change. I couldn’t keep my eyes open past 10:30. I officially became a morning person, waking before my alarm and falling asleep before my husband.
I may have lost the contest (by that one point!), but it felt good to act like the grownup I pretend to be—someone who does what she’s supposed to because it’s the wise thing to do. For next month, I set a stricter bedtime, which I just violated while writing this post, and added an extra goal—decluttering for 10 minutes a day.
So to all my HH sisters, thanks for the best kind of peer pressure! (By the way, this is my grace night.)