Room Time/Prayer Time

Oh.  I could sing the praises of room time/prayer time for a while.  But I'll make this quick.  What is room time/prayer time?  Well it's essentially the same thing, but my oldest doesn't like the vague-ness of 'room time', so she renamed hers 'prayer time.'  For my baby boy, I put him in the crib with some of his favorite toys about 30 minutes before he's due for a nap (sneaky, sneaky mama) with just a lamp on.  He plays until he gets tired, then he'll just konk out.  Easy naptime transition.  For R, I did have a CD that I made for her that was an hour long with praise songs, a Bible story and other music on it for reflection time, but she prefers to just read her little kids' devotional Bible and pray so I let her do that.
Down to the bare bones, room time is just that, time to play in their rooms quietly.  Now, this is not quiet time.  I will get to quiet time at a later date.  But room time is in the morning and it allows me time to pray, have a cup of hot chocolate and take a shower in peace (I hear all the moms asking, "What?  Shower in peace?  Tell me more!")  I get at least an hour every morning to myself.  I am realizing as I'm trying to be more deliberate about it that it can make or break my day if I get it or not.  Shower time is my prayer time (don't judge) and I will use that time to wake up, get ready for the day, and just pray.  I *need* that time.  Realizing how important it is to my day helps me stay motivated to keep doing it, though it isn't always convenient.

Besides my benefit, my kids have learned valuable lessons from this.  R is already pretty independent, but she is learning to use her solitary time to learn more about God and talk to Him.  I want her to develop this habit early so it isn't easily broken as she gets older and busier.
B is learning independence.  He is now perfectly happy for those 30 minutes before he goes to Sleepy Land, though it didn't start that way.  I imagine as he gets older, room time will involve a CD with a Bible story as he plays in his room.  This is pretty new for us, so we're doing what works for now, and we'll adjust as needed.

All that said, I highly recommend Room Time for your kids.  R does 1 hour, and that seems to work for her.  Sometimes I put in a classical music CD, but most of the time she just reads her Bible quietly  during that time, and I'll let her play with a quiet toy when she's done reading and praying.  Babies and Toddlers, I'd say 15-30 minutes.  It seems like in our busy schedules there's just no time, but it's worth it.  If you have kids that aren't at home all day, I'd make this a routine on the weekends and holidays.

Because, as they say, a happy mama makes a happy family