Aug 20, 2019
5:19:46pm
lilpenny All-American
I’m very loose on all of those things; it clearly impacts kids
But not necessarily in a bad way.
Let me explain.
My life is crazy, particularly since I married a woman from Brazil. Our daughter was born in Brazil, then at two months old took a 10 hour plane ride with her mom, no big deal. Then a month later she flew from the east coast to utah for her blessing for the weekend and back. She’s now 5 and has been to ten countries and Hawaii twice, plus we spend every Christmas and New Years in Brazil.

Initially, some were very hard on my wife and I because “kids need routine.” That was not possible for us. Her bedtime changed, obviously time zones and then cultures (Brazilians just go to bed late in general, including kids.)
Our daughter is extremely FLEXIBLE and RESILIENT. She’s an angel on planes. If she goes to bed late one day she handles it like a champ the next. She can handle anything you throw at her. She never gets sick. People come up to us on airports and say, “how is your kid never grouchy? She’s so sweet.”
Honestly she is; nothing can throw her because she’s adapted to unpredictability.
Compare that to my parents neighbors in Sandy. They were religious about bedtime and routine. You could set your clock to it. Their kids are great too. But they never leave their comfort zone. They’ve never been on a plane, if something happens like game night goes to 8:15 they start to yawn and can’t handle it. If their meals are a few mins late they can’t function because of extreme hunger.

I’m not saying one way is better, it just depends what you value. I know that routine has value and supposedly helps
Improve retention at school, but I’m happy with the personality that our crazy life has cultivated in our daughter.
This message has been modified
Originally posted on Aug 20, 2019 at 5:19:46pm
Message modified by lilpenny on Aug 20, 2019 at 5:22:20pm
lilpenny
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lilpenny
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