How To Start a Quiet Time Routine

Remember when your kids were little and nap time was a time you could have to yourself?

It might be a chance to get some laundry done. Maybe read a book or take a nap yourself. Or maybe it might just be the only time you got to eat something and shower unintturpted.

Then, they stopped napping and you lost those few hours you had in the middle of the day to regroup? It doesn’t have to be that way! Start a quiet time routine. No matter how old your kids are. Seriously.

My four kids currently range in age from 3-11-years old. Everyday, for approximately two hours, we have screen-free down time in the afternoon. Start small and work up to the amount of time that works best for you. Here is how we do it:

Hold on, real quick before I start, remember that the coolest thing about being a parent is you get to decide what works and what doesn’t work for your family! This is what works for us, take what you need and use it!

Here are the must have items at our house: Quiet time box, audiobook device, and a timer.

Each one of my kid’s quiet time boxes have different things in them. After many years we have a pretty good idea what they will want and need during this time. The most important thing to remember is they need to be things that they can do completely independently.

Here is a peek into my youngest’s box:

Duplos or magnatiles, cars, a puzzle, a search and find game. These items were not purchased special for quiet time, you can just gather stuff from around the house and rotate stuff often. He uses a Tonie Box for his audio books and music. A Yoto player would work too, you can see my thoughts on both here. When I start his quiet time we treat it exactly like naps. He gets a potty break, story, and song. Then I give him his box and remind him that when he feels tired he should go to sleep. I use a Hatch Baby Rest light to signal to him when he should be doing quiet time and when he is free to be done.

My 7-year old LOVES puzzles and is pretty content with a puzzle, coloring supplies, and a few small toys. She listens to books on a Yoto Player.

My 9 & 11-year-olds are old pros at this. One likes to do creative projects at this time. Creative lettering, journaling, etc. The other would rather build legos. They both often spend this time reading or listenening to music/books/or podcasts on their Alexa devices.

You can find links to all of our favorite things to use here.

While my kids do share rooms I place them in separate rooms for this time during the day. Everyone, myself included, benefits from a few hours alone. My kids learn how to deal with boredom, they work on goals or projects, and they get a minute to recharge their social batteries which leads to a more peaceful evening at our house.

What questions can I help with?