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youtubeThursday, May 22nd, 2008
Daily Schedule for Toddlers in Spain
This post is part of a series called Spring Cleaning where I asked you, the reader, if there was anything you wanted to know, but never asked about me or my family. Today’s question was asked by Valerie:
My husband and I are being transferred to Spain this summer and we have two small boys (2 1/2 & 1). I was just wondering if you had any suggestions for a daily schedule for toddlers? I planned on slowly transitioning my boys into a Spanish time frame for things before we arrived.
Most international families we know in Spain keep their kids on “American” or “British” time, which means they put their kids to bed around 8ish and eat their meals around noon and 6pm.
April and I have chosen to put Alleke on more of a Spanish schedule. We eat lunch at 2pm, dinner around 9:30pm, and Alleke (19 months) goes to bed around 10 or 10:30pm and wakes up at 9:30 or 10am.
The reason many international families choose not to put their kids on a Spanish schedule is because they feel their kids are not getting enough sleep. Especially if they go to school, a Spanish schedule means their kids go to bed late and get up early. This is a legitimate concern, in my opinion, and I’m not sure what we’ll do when Alleke goes to school.
The downside, on the other hand, of adopting a “British” or “American” schedule in Spain is that many working parents (often dads) don’t arrive home during the week until 8 or 9 (sometimes 10pm if they have to commute), so their kids are in bed before they get home, and consequently they don’t get to see them during the week.
Another disadvantage of a “British” or “American” schedule is that most kids in the neighborhood probably operate on a Spanish schedule. Your kids’ social interaction could be limited if they are in bed by 8pm and most kids have just run outside to play. I see this particularly during the summer when most kids are still up when I go to bed.
As a result, Alleke’s schedule looks something like this:
9:30am – wakes up
2:00pm – lunch
3:30-5:30pm – nap
6:00-8:00pm – playground (somewhere in this timeframe)
8:00-9:30pm – family time
9:30pm – dinner
10:00pm – get ready for bed
10:30 – in bed
If you live in Spain with kids, I’m curious what your daily schedule looks like. Have you adopted an “American” or “British” schedule, or a Spanish one, or something else entirely?
More thoughts on kids in Spain playing in the streets after midnight…
MORE ON: kids, parenting, sleep, spain, toddler
8 COMMENTS
Our kids get up early no matter what time they go to bed (unfortunately– who wants to get up at 7am on a weekend?) so if we put them to bed late, they would definitely not get enough sleep. They are in bed by 9pm pretty much every night (ages: almost 6 and almost 4.)
That said, I think that many Spanish kids that age have a similar schedule on school nights, at least from what I’ve seen.
On the other hand, weekends and summers, other kids tend to stay up late– but ours only go to about 10pm at the latest. If they slept in I wouldn’t mind extending this in the summer, but since they don’t, that’s our schedule.
May 23, 2008 at 6:30 am
any suggestions on things we should or should not be bringing to Spain, ie:carseats? kitchen aide? electronic stuff?
May 23, 2008 at 8:15 pm
This has been one of those hard decisions. We thought about it for a while, having moved back to Spain: what schedule to hold on to for Arianna. When we didn’t have her, we followed the Spanish schedule; just because it is hard to follow a Dutch/American schedule here. But we have gone back to our Dutch schedule. She goes to bed at 8 PM. We eat at around 7 PM (also because of Daniel’s schedule: he has to get to bed earlier). We also do this because we might not stay in Spain long. We know so many Spanish children who don’t even have a bedtime (not even 10 PM). Their parents just take them out and they fall asleep in their strollers. And a lot of kids are out of control: from what I’ve read, that might in part be due to the schedule. We want to give Ari a bit more structure. But I guess there are pros and cons to both sides. This does mean that our social life is now limited here: we have to skip a lot of events that start after 8 (especially now that she is a bit older). Occasionally, we make an exception. I guess we’re breaking the big rule: when in Rome, do as the Romans….
-eva
May 24, 2008 at 12:09 pm
So interesting to hear about a toddler’s schedule in another culture. It will be interesting to hear what you guys decide to do when Alleke goes to school. I’m also curious how your travels went. How did Alleke do on such long flights?
May 25, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Josiah’s schedule is almost exactly that of Alleke’s right now, though as the temperatures continue to rise we’ll probably revert back to what we did last summer.
Since the sun doesn’t go down until 10pm in the middle of summer in Sevilla, it’s really too unbearable to be outside until 10pm.
Last year we’d eat dinner around 10pm, then Samuel and Josiah would head out to the park until about 11:30pm.
That is when the park was at its peak of activity, and most kids were still out playing when Josiah would come home!
This interesting to me as we will be moving to Spain next summer. My daughter Caitlin will be 12 and starting the 7th grade at the time. What is the "normal" schedule for children during school? Obviously they don't get up at 9:30, do they still go to bed at 11:00 pm? For that matter what about working adults? Thank you
June 3, 2009 at 8:46 pm
I don't have any kids in school yet, so I'm not that familiar with the "kids in school" world, but what I can tell you is that Alleke will be starting in the autumn at a school that starts at 9:30am and ends at 5:00pm. I'm not sure if that's representative of the culture as a whole, but it's one example. You might try asking Kate over at Expat Mama who is actually a school teacher herself here in Madrid.
June 3, 2009 at 9:36 pmLEAVE YOUR COMMENT
Mrs. T said...
I wish we had more of a “Spanish” schedule here in the states. I noticed last summer when I was in Spain, it stays light out until about 10:00pm, which makes it much easier to stay up later.
May 22, 2008 at 9:19 pm